Niche themes and complexly laid out programming seldom captivate or draw in new audiences to even the most surreally orchestrated events and festivals beyond the usual big-ticket festivals. Ergo, even as discrete events continue to proliferate with their distinct marks within echo chambers, it becomes imperative to curate festivals that speak to a larger audience despite adhering to designated themes. In other words, it is incumbent upon professionals from varied fields to make their work accessible to individuals from disparate disciplines and platforms, along with making space for disenfranchised voices via these initiatives. When talking about bringing people together, what, indeed, can unanimously appeal to the larger populace other than the aspiration for a just, joyful and sustainable future?

It is these tenets that the upcoming DesignTO Festival seeks to deliberate upon with its 10-day creative programme. Returning to Toronto, Canada, for its 15th iteration this year, the art and design festival will host over 100 exhibitions and events exploring the overarching themes of climate crisis, social justice, technology and more. The art and design event, open from January 24 - February 2, 2025, is deemed to be Canada’s largest non-profit design festival and is supported by the Government of Ontario, the City of Toronto and the Ontario Arts Council.

“DesignTO isn’t just a festival; it’s an anti-loneliness machine,” shares Christina Zeidler, co-founder of the design and art festival. Against the context of Toronto being popularly ascribed as one of the loneliest cities in the world, this assertion is both cathartic and inspiring.

Ahead of the 10-day creative medley, STIR enlists some key design exhibitions, installations, talks, creative events and special projects that caught our eye.

DesignTO Launch Party 2025

As unconventional as it may seem to list a launch party as part of a curated programme highlights, DesignTO's opening gala boasts specific programming including performances and installations that elevate the event beyond the usual. To be held on January 24, 2025, this in-person event at the Harbourfront Centre on Toronto’s waterfront will kick off the DesignTO Festival 2025. In celebration of ‘DesignTO’s legacy of fostering belonging and sparking vital conversations about design’s role in shaping a better world,’ the event will bring together Toronto’s creative community while also serving as a fundraiser for the event.

Some experiences curated for attendees of the launch party include a one-night-only installation Terrestrial Lace by visual artist Asli Alin; the group exhibition REVIVE by seven local and international artists and designers; and three new exhibitions showcasing works in lighting, sculpture, glass, textiles, ceramics and more. While Terrestrial Lace allows for an immersive experience with a series of interconnected glowing polyhedral sculptures that change colours, the REVIVE exhibition encapsulates a wide variety of innovations that reinterpret traditional features, ranging from sculpture, photography, functional objects, textiles and installations.

Art exhibitions that explore heritage

An evocative photography exhibition At the conjuring of roots, I wished to meet Me… by Ghanaian-Nigerian photographer and visual artist Delali Cofie will be displayed on five digital screens at Sankofa Square (formerly Yonge-Dundas Square). “Inspired by traditional West African costuming practices, I explored the physical manifestation of self through masquerade garments,” Cofie indicates. Akin to Cofie’s masqued exposition, Pixel Heller’s Beyond the Body focuses on traditional masquerades by transforming costumes into sculptural forms to shift focus towards the symbolism of rituals, cultural memory and ancestral connections. Heller’s second display The Archivist features the eponymous performative photographer character created by the artist to document and preserve the traditions of the Caribbean carnival.

DUELLING DUALITIES: From Indigenous Filipino Packaging to Industrialized Canadian Realities investigates the contrasting philosophies behind two distinct packaging systems—one rooted in traditional knowledge and sustainability, the other driven by industrialisation and convenience. BLOOD, WATER & BATHURST STREET, on the other hand, is a participatory, textile-based mapping project by Naomi Daryn Boyd that delves into the histories, communities and peoples that have shaped Canada.

Expositions addressing identity, loss and migration

Keeping up with extant discourses on identity, DesignTO Festival platforms exhibitions such as A Name To It, where Boris Yu aims to unravel the intrinsic vulnerabilities of a person when stripped of normatively adopted garments, behaviours, identities et al. FORGIVENESS/RESENTMENT by textile artist Olivia Mae Sinclair will serve as an exploration of forgiveness, self, devotion and ritual and Chinese artist Chu Winnie Cheung’s Void examines constraint, censorship and discrimination in the context of contemporary Chinese society via jewellery design.

Catherine Chan’s Fractures and Futures delves into human entanglements with the more-than-human and the responsibility inherent in these relationships. Narcissus Falls by Audric Montuno and Joaquin Sevillano of Land Art Design Landscape Architects Inc. evokes the eponymous Greek figure and inverts the physicality and perspective of the original story with a looming mirror and the narcissus flowers strewn on the floor. The exhibition text masterfully queries, “Which will prove to have the stronger appeal — the reflected inversion of reality or a maquette of nature?”

Sufra (Displaced Objects), an exhibit designed by Nuhad Haffar-Orsini of Nu Sculpture Studio and Salma Serry of Sufra Archives, is a design installation that navigates through grief, collective memory and migration through the lens of the sufra—an Arabic term for a communal meal rooted in the word safar (to travel). Amazon Sucks, a window installation by Christopher Rouleau, Secret Planet Print Sho/ Jackie Lee, Adam Leger, Rob Shostak, Kyle Vynckier and John Alunan, seeks to draw focus towards the dark side of Amazon. Stacking screen-printed boxes—as a nod to Andy Warhol’s iconic Brillo boxes—this exhibit draws attention to the multinational mega-corporations crushing small businesses.

Woven tales at the Festival

Some art exhibitions at the event will inquire into creative expression through rugs, quilts and other woven tapestries in textile art exhibits such as Threads of Imagination by Lilian Hallak; Tides of Structure by Klara VY; DO: MAKING AS AN ACT OF ENDURANCE by Natalie Gerber; Filamentous by Kelley Aitken and Elaine Whittaker; Pattern: Method and Motif by Amy K Fitzgerald and Georgina Lee Walker, Understory by Jenn Kitagawa, Charlotte Little’s Weaving the Fibreshed and A Fine Kettle of Fish by Mark Krebs. Each installation seeks to foreground the power of tactile design and handicraft in an increasingly digital world.

Immersive experiences with sustainable materials

Pivoted on the theme of sustainability are expositions such as Studio Rat’s Bubble Quilt, made out of reclaimed waste plastic, an immersive inflatable installation and lighting concept. “An exploration of craft and lightness, Bubble Quilt is a playful nod to the aspirations and shortcomings of utopic inflatable ideology, exploring the functional capacity and limitations of this expansive medium”, reads an excerpt from the exhibition description.

The meditative show Winter Waiting seeks to extend upon the art of waiting without giving in to despair. Developed by textile artist Ruth Wickremesooriya and Canadian performance denim brand DUER, using damaged denim products from the DUER Toronto store, this installation offers room for the audience to meditate, feel one’s pain and disappointment and finally move towards a more hopeful state of mind.

Tangled Paths, constructed from 90 per cent recycled materials, is an installation that speaks to the sustainability of urban evolution. Conceived by Nargiza Usmanova and Maxim Zinchuk, it encapsulates the chaotic beauty of urban life in a bustling metropolis like Toronto, where millions of individual journeys collide, overlap and intertwine, forming a vibrant and dynamic web of human experiences.

Group exhibitions

The group exhibition, About Time, featuring the creative work of six 2021 Sheridan College Craft and Design alumni, displays a ‘then and now’ narrative between the ideas explored in school and their development over time. Another group show DesignTO Youth: Story Story, featuring nine emerging artists and designers from the annual DesignTO Youth program, presents reflections on themes of family, identity, femininity, cross-generational traditions and the ‘self’ through diverse mediums, materials and forms. Ensemble, similarly, displays works by Montreal’s emerging design community. Some participants include Sangare Studio, Mie Kim, Sarah-Jeanne Riberdy, Simon S. Belleau, Nicolas Lachance, Jérémy Paguet, Gabriel Page and more.

To Hold, curated by Yabu Pushelberg, is a group exhibition featuring Alexandre Guay, Barbara Astman, Clara Jorisch, Dennis Lin, Georgia Dickie, Rebecca Sun Collins, Sarah Yao-Rishea, Simon Petepiece, Studio Pararaum, Verre D'Onge and Design + Technology Lab, and will probe how the act of holding can transform the essence of an object. Unveiled: The Graduation, features works by six young Muslim artists and aims to expand the narrative of the Muslim community in Toronto while also sparking conversation surrounding womanhood, modesty and beauty by looking past the veil.

The Shape I’m In, curated by Nathan Heuvingh, is a consideration of the dynamic interplay between colour, geometric forms and abstraction within spatial environments. Surface Impressions, on the other hand, highlight the result that can be reached when a material’s physical properties and disparate creative techniques interact.

Responding to the question of slowing down is the group exhibition Dwell by Kristina Ljubanovic, Yasmin Mora, Bartosz Mucha (POOREX design studio), Kalpit Patel and Alison Postma. This group of artists and designers, analyse, via their work (furniture, rugs, florals and animations), designs that can offer opportunities for people to slow down while traversing commercial districts and transit hubs.

Collectible art and design

Some expositions at the art and design fair are dedicated to demonstrating innovatively construed collectible objects. These include UNRAVEL by Colleen Dwyer Meloche comprising a collection of collectible ceramic vessels; the self-explanatory Sculptural Ribbons in Clay by Filipa Pimentel; Chloe Begg’s Connections showcasing modular ceramic sculptures; DUSKSHAPED: Bad Graces presenting contemporary sculptural objects for the home alongside Studio Bimbi’s collection of handcrafted furniture, in the exhibition Home. Worth a special mention is the Drawing and Improvisation in Paper and Wood exhibition featuring John Booth’s works on paper and wood furniture.

Speculative works of fiction and non-fiction

Working Backwards, a show put together by Mia Cinelli and Daniels Spectrum is a retrospective view of a speculative future. It features print ephemera ‘discovered’ from the future for public viewing including posters and packaging from the 2030s through the 2120s. SvN Architects + Planners’ Deconstructing TOD: Transit Roots is a speculative showcase that confers a proposal for transit-oriented development to support healthy, thriving communities. In the same realm, Mathew Garland’s Sonic Interiors is an installation that intends to reveal how public spaces can be designed to support people who identify as highly sensitive, especially through the aural sense.

At the intersection of art, architecture and landscapes

Fragments of a Disappearing Landscape, an exhibition by Toronto-based studio POLYMETIS, introduces a project capturing Oak Ridges Moraine’s (in Ontario’s Greenbelt) ancient topography—formed 20,000 years ago during the Wisconsin Glaciation—through a series of clay impressions emphasising the impressions of a landscape that is increasingly at risk from urbanisation, environmental degradation and climate change.

patterns of belonging by Tania Love presents works inspired by close observation of the ever-changing sand patterns along the shoreline of Lake Ontario and imagined hidden rivers running through the city and living beings. “Love’s work reminds us that human consciousness and physicality are intimately connected with the natural world and cycles,” reads an excerpt from the exhibition text.

Immersion, interaction and intuition

Mason Studio’s The Invisible Tide is an immersive sensory installation that seeks to reimagine the boundaries of perception through light, sound, scent and touch. Drawing on the principles of neuroarchitecture and sensory psychology, an interplay of shifting light, rhythmic soundscapes, evocative scents and tactile sensations will drive introspection and self-discovery among the participants.

Gensler’s Yes, And is an innovative and interactive art installation that will transform with every visitor’s touch. Made out of a variety of intriguing objects, the living artwork seeks to unveil itself as the culmination of a collaborative effort and evince the effect of human interaction via art.

Maddy Young, Ray McAuliffe and Charlotte Allison’s performative project Homing (Pigeon Store) will be presented at the base of a condo tower, where an excess of model birds will gather in the lobby and viewers will be encouraged to retune their attention towards urban wildlife. Another introspective installation, Permission to Celebrate, will host a harmonious space where the societal norms of productivity and perfection can be challenged and the audience can pause to appreciate the present.

FELT unfurled, on the other hand, is a spatial design conceived using felt rolls, felt folds, felt puckers, felt pleats, felt pads, felt cushions, felt bulges and felt creases. It houses a gathering space, reading room, maker space and conversation platform. Apart from exhibiting the possibilities of the material, it is also a venue for various talks and events during the festival.

Iterating the impact of dynamic environments on a child’s spatial and cognitive development, Symphotic Morphosis brings in light, sound and movement to demonstrate the relaxation and spatial learning these factors can enhance in children. The immersive installation Chromatic Echoes is similarly designed to evoke memories and emotions with the play of light, mirrors, metal and colour. 

Talks, tours and workshops

Gensler has organised a collaborative review of resumes and portfolios to assist BIPOC Students in the design industry. Two exclusive Connect & Collaborate sessions are designed as salon-style, in-person gatherings for discussions on the Toronto design scene. Another workshop titled the Serious Game Design Workshop is designed for aspiring game designers, educators, activists and gaming enthusiasts, to stress the potential of games as a tool for social change. The Everyone Is a Designer workshop, on the other hand, is designed to help non-designers and non-creators learn low-fidelity prototyping techniques.

Some tours designated for the 10-day event include Design + Fabrication Shop Tours by Trent Baker and Tracy Bowie; DesignTO Tours: Dualities by Pixel Heller, Audric Montuno and Studio Rat; and the self-guided tour Discover a Hidden Gem: The Arts and Letters Club.

Exciting talks organised for the festival include DesignTO Talks: Material Expressions and DesignTO Talks: Net Positive, which will host glass artists Nadira Narine and Lauren Rice; and Aaron Budd, April Barrett, Deepikah RB, Fran Erazo, Judith van den Boom and Netami Stuart, respectively. David Ingram, founder of Sweat and Tonic and Craig Stanghetta, co-founder of the hospitality brand Banda Volpi and founder/creative director of acclaimed design studio Ste Marie will speak on The Hospitality Effect: Transforming Fitness & Wellness Spaces into Destinations. Laura Karik, Elton Leung and Steve Copeland will narrate their journeys as part of Three Design Stories and Cheryl Giraudy and Saskia van Kampen will discuss the critical topic of housing and youth under the talk event CommunityStreets: A Youth Lens on the Future of Urban Housing. Net Positive Drift will importantly underscore design responses to the climate crisis.