Cannoe, Toronto

Photography by Scott Norsworthy 

In a land where recreational cannabis shops outnumber bank branches and every shop sells the same provincially regulated product, design plays a crucial role in differentiating vendors and attracting customers. To enable cannabis supplier Cannoe to stand apart in its highly saturated market, the goal was to create a brand that integrates into communities to become as much a part of everyday life as the neighbourhood coffee shop. Williamson Williamson sought to make each Cannoe store contextual, with a unique palette anchored by the colour green. At the new location on Toronto’s Queen Street East, the buff-coloured brick bud bar makes a big statement with a nod to the building material of the area’s Victorian houses. The bricks’ modular size and sand-moulded solid body allows them to stack, twist and cantilever to create a curved seating area at the end of the bar and stepped and herringbone details at the linear areas of the counter. The warm brick complements the deep forest-green wall and light-green powder-coated shelving, giving a colour pop to the space.