Global Group invited the Toronto A&D community to the Carlu for a sneak preview of new office-furniture products for 2010, including Floorplay, Foundations and Princeton. They will officially launch at NeoCon in June and IIDEX/NeoCon in September.
1–Ron Flam, CFO, Global Group; Julie Anne Smedley, president, and Gary Scholl, chairman and CEO, POI Business Interiors; and Gerry Hawkshaw, VP construction services, Brookfield Properties.
2–Global’s Ray Townsley, senior VP, government affairs and strategic markets; Toby Feldberg, wife of company founder and chairman Saul; and the couple’s son Joel, president and COO.
3–Vlad Muller, director of design, Global Group, and Oli Ullmann of MU Design.
4–Kimsha Horvath, sales rep at ReMax real estate, and Alan Dalquen, senior interior designer at Stantec.
5–Intercede Facility Management’s Blanca Rohn, librarian; and spouses Moises and Micheline Bartlett. She is president and co-founder; he is relocation manager.
Industrial-strength eye candy was on view at the Toronto Four Seasons Hotel’s Regency Ballroom for the ARIDO/IIDA Leaders Breakfast, thanks to keynote speaker Edward Burtynsky, renowned for his artful photos of industry despoiling nature. The morning commenced with the presentation of the 2009 IIDA Leadership Award of Excellence to HOK’s Joe Pettipas.
1–Photographer and art-book producer Edward Burtynsky, keynote speaker, signing copies of his latest coffee-table book, Oil.
2–Deborah Sperry, associate, team leader, workplace solutions; and Joe Pettipas, VP, practice, leader, retail and hospitality at HOK, shortly before accepting the 2009 IIDA Leadership Award of Excellence.
3–The Design Exchange’s Cindy Grenke, director of development; Rosa Ricci (foreground), membership co-ordinator and community liaison; and Samantha Sannella, president and CEO.
4–At the HOK table: B.J. Davis, senior VP, director of studio operations; Lara Koretsky, VP, HR manager; Frances Ahamad, VP, operations leader, workplace solutions; Randa Tukan, VP, practice leader, commercial interiors.
Commotion, the Design Exchange’s fall fundraising gala, honoured Research in Motion’s design team with a cocktail party, followed by a dinner, followed by a buffet, dance and mingle affair.
1–Ryerson retail-management students Kristina Aaltonen and Jessica Miller flank DX art director Darren Finlay.
2–Madawaska Quartet violinist Sarah Fraser-Raff and her husband, architect Paul Raff, founder of Paul Raff Studio, flanking Raff designer Michael Shaw-Min Lam.
3–Taylor Smyth Architects partner Michael Taylor with novelist and Globe and Mail copy editor Sheree-Lee Olson.
4–Peter Smith, product manager at Scotiabank; and Laura Fuller, manager, communications and marketing services at Osram Sylvania.
5–Knoll’s Fabiana Stubrich, director of business development, and Susan Somers, national account manager.
6–Steven Levy, senior VP and general manager at Merchandise Mart Properties (Canada), which runs IIDEX/NeoCon and owns the Interior Design Show; and Michelle De Los Santos, a director at CIBC.
& Co. (formerly known as Sweeny Sterling Finlayson) held its annual client party at the Panorama lounge, high atop Toronto’s Manulife Centre. The room offers stunning views of the city skyline, which includes some of the firm’s projects, like the new RBC-Dexia tower.
1–Abel Branco, design manager, and Francine Smith, manager, project management, at Straticom; and Stephen MacPhail, president, CI Financial.
2–Host Dermot Sweeny; Heather Senst, executive creative director at Astral Media; and Jan Krizan, principal at private equity firm Bingley Capital.
3–Ontario College of Art and Design’s Peter Caldwell, VP finance and administration; and Jessica Kamphorst, executive director, development and alumni relations.
4–Barry Lyon, of his eponymous land-development consulting firm; Bronwyn Krog, VP land development and planning, Wittington Properties; architect Lynn of Lynn Appleby Designs; and party host Mark Sterling.