When I met my partner in 2011, he had just started renovating a house with his best friend, and I didn’t know what to expect in terms of his décor style, because he was living in the house that they were renovating.
When they were close to finishing, he found a piece of art that he liked through his work. And, for him, this ignited a now decade-long journey into multiple facets of the industry art. Over the years, we have added to our art collection, mostly buying from Canadian painters, photographers and sculptors. We have gone to local art fairs, met gallery owners in the city and travelled for exhibitions (together) and international art fairs (him solo).
Art is his one of his things, and through him I have thankfully been exposed to many amazingly talented artists. And when I was working towards opening my office in the west end of the city, there were pieces that I knew would come with me. Below are the pieces that currently grace our office space.
I love this Emily Filler that sits in our waiting area. Emily is a dear friend from when my partner and I first met. This is a collaboration between Emily and her father, and I love the way it brings colour and nature into the space.
Photographer Josh Jensen Nagle has also become a dear friend over the years, and I love when he takes the risk of experimenting with his photography. He usually takes beautiful ocean and beachscapes, but every once-in-a-while he’ll turn his lens elsewhere. His wife Jes loves fashion (maybe more than I do), so when he zoomed in on some Dior and Prada patterns, I knew I wanted them.
Once an elementary school teacher, Gordon brought his paintings to the Artist Project fair one year and we connected with him right away. Gordon was lovely to talk to, as well as being smart and talented. One of Gordon paintings from around 2022, this piece hangs in our lobby area.
Back in my previous career, I worked as the digital editor of The Kit, the lifestyle, fashion and beauty section of the Toronto Star. While there, the digital department had an intern named Laura. She was super keen, had a great sense of style and was lovely to be around. One day, she showed one of our team members an illustration that she was working on. We quickly showed Laura’s art to the rest of the team, and Laura began doing illustrations for the paper. When Laura was finishing up her internship, she very generously gave me this piece, taken with inspiration from the 2014 Erdem Spring/Summer collection. It has remained one of my favourite fashion collections of all time, and this is certainly one of my favourite pieces in the office. Laura’s career then quickly took off, and she has done illustrations for many fashion houses and publications, and she’s amassed a following of over 16,000 followers on Instagram.
At an art auction in 2024, my partner let me take the reins when it came to bidding on a piece. I got a little too excited but thankfully stayed within out budget when bidding on this piece, called Cruising Soweto. This black and white photograph hangs next to the Gordon Shadrach piece in our waiting area, and highlights how skate culture showed up in South Africa.