Fine Italian furniture maker Calligaris recently opened its first Toronto store, which showcasing the renowned brand’s elegantly modern and imaginative designs for the home.
The opening of Calligaris Toronto Store comes as Italy enjoys a return to the top of the design world, thanks to its user-friendly modernism – beautifully reflected in the Calligaris collection.
Similar single-brand Calligaris stores have opened in Rome, Miami and Lyon, France. Gallery concepts have also exhibited in Paris’s Galeries Lafayette and New York’s Bloomingdale’s.
“The timing was right for Calligaris to enter Toronto’s design scene on a grand scale,” says Yana Evleniteva, owner of Calligaris Toronto Store. “The collections’ clean lines, clever functionality and that unrivalled Italian sense of style will speak to all lovers of good design, including condo dwellers with limited space and the corporate set in search of timeless pieces for the office.”
Located in the heart of Toronto’s design district, the showroom sprawls over 5,000 square feet, and includes the heritage building originally built for Sovereign Bank of Canada in 1907. The store’s layout mirrors the classic Calligaris House, which presents vignettes of furnishings for kitchen, living room, dining room and bedroom.
Each piece is 100 per cent Italian design and handpicked for the Canadian market. Some of the collections’ showstoppers include the classically elegant Wien chair, by Lucidi Pevere Design studio; and the Odyssey table by Studio Tecnico Calligaris, which extends seamlessly to seat additional guests and represents the company’s trademark ingenious design at its best.
Said Alessandro Calligaris, at the grand opening of the store, “I’m delighted to be in Toronto for this opening. We felt the need to find a point of sale which would be strategic in Canada, embody the identity of our brand and enhance the design of our products.”
Based in Manzano, Italy, Calligaris was founded in 1923 by Antonio Calligaris and born out of his passion for wood. Calligaris produced the first “Marocca” chair that same year – an image that continues to symbolize the brand. More recently, Calligaris has obtained the prestigious FSC Certification from the Forest Stewardship Council-recognition that the company uses ecological, sustainable, socially useful practices in the harvesting and manufacture of its wood.