9 Highlights from Toronto’s Interior Design Show

The Interior Design Show (IDS)—whose 21st iteration wrapped up last week—included an impressive speaker series and showcased the latest in high-end design.

2019 toronto IDS highlights
Carol Phillips of Moriyama & Teshima Architects was one of IDS’s presenters on mass timber. Her firm is designing The Arbour, a 21-story mass timber structure in Toronto. Courtesy Moriyama & Teshima Architects

There was much ado about wood at Toronto’s Interior Design Show (IDS) this year—not surprising, considering that Canada is a country of lakes and forests. The discussions, however, didn’t focus on timber’s aesthetics. Rather, its sustainable qualities and economic promise were the main focuses of a panel discussion on tall wood buildings as well as a lecture on the entwined relationship between city and country. (Not only does wood sequester carbon, but its harvesting stands to connect urban growth with rural forestry industries.) Timber also featured prominently at the Ontario Wood Council booth and the annual Concept House, which this year was a rugged cabin of modern sensibility.

Wood aside, IDS also included several exhibits, rows upon rows of tastefully decorated booths, and a roster of globally renowned speakers—such as Neri&Hu, Michael Sorensen, and Marion Weiss—who broadened the conversation to include design for social good. All this demonstrates how comprehensive (or schizophrenic, depending on how you look at it) the show is.

Here are Metropolis’s highlights:

You may also enjoy “Studio Truly Truly on Their Vision for “Das Haus” at This Year’s imm Cologne.”

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