The Toronto Design Offsite Festival (TO DO) is an annual city-wide platform for the exhibition and engagement of independent design in Toronto, showcasing unexpected prototypes, immersive installations, and unique programming. As always, it complements the 2015 Interior Design Show (Jan. 22-25), running Jan. 19-25.
TO DO is an annual festival that celebrates the unique diversity of Canada’s energetic design scene. TO DO provides exposure for the country’s most promising designers and introduces the public to the practice of design with events featuring great thinkers, practitioners and educators. The not-for-profit festival attracts the international community to Toronto for one design-filled week of discovery every January.
HIGHLIGHTS
EVENTS
Exporting Toronto Design (Jan. 20)
Lightform | Event
How do we increase awareness of Toronto designers in the international marketplace? Be a part of the dialogue as panelists discuss the issues, then participate in a brainstorming session led by The Moment.
Wintersphere (Jan. 21)
The Junction Train Platform | Event
Toronto School of Art Wintersphere transforms the Junction Train Platform into an atmospheric site of interactive sculpture, digital installation, and seasonal treats. Explore large-scale marshmallow spheres for roasting over the fire, and enjoy hot chocolate while viewing TSA student work.
EXHIBITIONS
White Out (Jan. 20-25)
TAC Art/Work Gallery | Exhibition
As designers know well, there is no such thing as a singular white. In paper, plaster, and textiles, the diversity of white multiplies. The colour white also changes over time and under environmental conditions. ‘White Out’ is an exhibition that explores the many concepts and colours of white.
Anderssen Voll & Mjolk (Jan. 21-Feb. 23)
Mjolk | Exhibition
Mjolk is hosting the first North American retrospective of Norwegian design firm Anderssen & Voll. Along with this retrospective Mjolk will launch a collection of objects designed by Anderssen & Voll and produced by local craftspeople in Toronto. The theme of this year collection follows ritual and indoor gardening. Anderssen & Voll will be in attendance at the opening reception of the retrospective.
Come Up To My Room 2015 (Jan. 16-25)
Gladstone Hotel | Exhibition
Toronto’s favourite alternative design event returns with an extended run and expanded scope. This year CUTMR’15 occupies all four floors of the hotel bringing together design, art, craft, landscape design, performance and sound in two weeks of exploration and celebration.
Made in Toronto, Canada, the Brothers Dressler Workshop (Jan. 22-25)
Brothers Dressler Workshop | Exhibition
Brothers Dressler open the doors to their workshop in Toronto’s West end for you to explore. Come see a decade of furniture and lighting production with new works along with catalogue pieces, prototypes and their collection of found objects and woods.
Urban Fabric: Portraits of a City (continuing to Jan. 25)
Textile Museum of Canada | Exhibition
Through the matrix of a 19th-century blanket, this exhibition explores what it means to live in and imagine a place. Through photographs, paintings, sculpture and film, each artist creates a portrait of a city, often taking Toronto as their subject.
WINDOW INSTALLATIONS
Behind The Glass (Jan. 19-25)
Haworth Showroom | Window Installation
Behind The Glass invites you to lose yourself in the theatre of design. Through the peephole lies an installation manipulated by light and shadow. In constant motion, this shape shifter is always changing. Blink and you’ll miss it.
Calgary Outside the Box (Jan. 19-25)
Opticianado | Window Installation
Outside the Box exhibits design from across Canada and the U.S. by partnering with design correspondents in selected cities. This year’s Canadian cities are Montreal (It’s them again), Calgary (aftermodernlab.com), and Vancouver (Dear Human).
For more info about the festival, visit http://todesignoffsite.com/