Best of Design Week, Pt 1: Hand-Beaded Skulls and Cheeky Road Signs
Our favourites from the Gladstone Hotel’s annual alternative design event, Come up to my Room
We are awarding 100 of the best products we spot throughout Toronto Design Week with our Designlines Loves tags, specially designed by Sali Tabacchi.
Below is the first batch of designs that caught our attention. Keep track of everything we’ve tagged in our master list and check back as we spotlight more of our great finds in the days ahead!
1 Revolucionario
Mexican-born artist Ricky Sosa hand-beads intricate patterns onto cast-resin skulls to turn something morbid into a celebration of life’s beauty. Each one takes him over 40 hours to complete. We love the Día de los Muertos feel that the pieces bring to the Gladstone Café.
Tagged by Eric Mutrie on Jan 15 at Come Up to my Room, at the Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St W.
2 Orange Crush
In this brash exterior installation by design firm DTAH, a mass of orange plastic crashes against the exterior of the Gladstone to represent the construction “wave” reshaping the city. The scope and composition of the piece is especially impressive when viewed from the hotel’s third-floor windows.
Tagged by Eric Mutrie on Jan 15 at Come Up to my Room, at the Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St W
3 Common Thread
Texttiles, up on the third floor, is an annual exhibit exploring the possibilities of natural and synthetic fibres. Common Thread consists of four ceiling-height wall hangings by Sander Freedman, Riyad Bacchus and Andrey Chernykh, who celebrate the common and distinct rug making traditions of India, Iran and Nepal.
Tagged by Tory Healy on Jan 15 at Come Up to my Room, at the Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St W
4 In a Space
The fourth floor of the hotel is a black and white wonderland; a group show of mainly 2-D work by eight graphic designers. This stark installation of everyday objects Rose Broadbent is especially compelling: dramatic, illusory shadows of each is made manifest in black tape.
Tagged by Tory Healy on Jan 15 at Come Up to my Room, at the Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St W
5 Interventions
Irreverent art collective TimeandDesire, made up of Denis St. Marie and Timothy Walker, delivers unexpected directions and social commentary on signs mimicking traditional roadway markers. Their inclusion in CUTMR makes navigating the exhibition’s many spaces a humorous journey.
Tagged by Eric Mutrie on Jan 15 at Come Up to my Room, at the Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St W
