Artist Spotlight
Take a seat
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A Knoll Saarinen chair in the Nick Cave Collection.
Coming off the success of Nick Cave: Forothermore, which recently closed at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Cave continues to make his mark supporting those who feel marginalized. In a partnership with design retailer Design Within Reach and Knoll Textiles, the artist and activist created limited edition and signed Knoll Saarinen chairs in the Nick Cave Collection for Knoll Textiles. Sold by Wright auction house last week, the final tally totalled US$58,968 which will benefit Facility, Cave’s Chicago-based foundation dedicated to assisting emerging artists via scholarships and opportunities with the established artist community. Serendipitously, this year also marks the Womb chair’s 75th anniversary, and even though the auction has ended, chairs can be custom made in Knoll’s collection of textiles inspired by Cave’s reflective and hopeful body of work.
Trending
Rolling in the deep
Global trend and colour forecasters WGSN and Coloro have announced the it-shade for 2025: Future Dusk. ”It really sits between blue and purple, dark and light, dusk and dawn: it embodies restorative qualities, the importance of finding respite in shade and in rest,” explains Gemma Riberti, head of interiors, WGSN Interiors, to The Globe and Mail. “Future Dusk is definitely ideal for restorative spaces, the bedroom first and foremost – at home or at a hotel for instance. Think bedding, throws but also curtains and inviting bathroom linens, as well as solid colour upholstery that feels classic and contemporary at the same time, starting with matte velvet.” More comforting than moody, Riberti says this colour is versatile and describes it as a “fresh take on dependable dark blues, as it can look and feel familiar and futuristic at the same time.”
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Global trend and colour forecasters WGSN and Coloro have announced the it-shade for 2025: Future Dusk.Handout
Investment Buy
A quiet luxury
An Ottawa-based technology company, Food Cycle Science, has been partnering with buzzy blender company Vitamix since 2020. They mashed up their collective know-how and resources to create food cyclers (a.k.a. an electronic composter) that breaks down kitchen waste, including animal proteins, overnight. The already popular FC-50, $499.50, has a 2.5-litre capacity, an odour-reducing carbon filter lid and a quiet cycle, so it won’t wake up the house while everyone sleeps. Now the brands have launched the ECO 5 with a 5-litre capacity and sleeker design, however those upgrades come with a bigger price tag of $819.95. While the investment is steep, cottage owners should put it on their wish list because it stores scraps and fits on your countertop without attracting furry neighbours.
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An Ottawa-based technology company, Food Cycle Science, has been partnering with buzzy blender company Vitamix since 2020.Handout
Retail News
Thrilled to pieces
U.S.-based Burrow recently started shipping its indoor and outdoor modular furniture to Canada. Only available on burrow.com, it’s direct-to-consumer ethos is clever: never cumbersome, shipped in pieces, designed to last, and made to expand and contract, so it can move with you and never be left on the roadside. When it comes to the outdoors, the new Burrow Relay collection creates adjustable seating to make the most of a small condo balcony or spread out next to a pool. With powder-coated galvanized steel that resists rust, quick-dry cushions and all-weather fabric, it’s designed to withstand messy summer hiccups such as smoothie spills, muddy pets and rain.
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When it comes to the outdoors, the new Burrow Relay collection creates adjustable seating to make the most of a small condo balcony or spread out next to a pool.Handout
Gardening
Reading list
“Rewilding” is one of the hottest buzzwords when it comes to the environment – and even home gardening these days. But just what does it mean? Put some of these titles (some new and some classic) on your summer reading list to better understand the ecosystem restoration movement.
- Wilding by Isabella Tree. This is, arguably, the book that popularized the term. Follow Tree’s mission to rewild her husband’s inherited English estate, turning it from farmland into a natural paradise.
- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Another seminal work, this title brings an Indigenous perspective to humankind’s relationship with the Earth, and what we can do to support its recovery from the disaster we have inflicted.
- Grow Now by Emily Murphy. This practical guide brings rewilding to the homefront, offering gardeners suggestions on how to improve the biodiversity of whatever piece of land they have available.
- Rewild Your Garden by Frances Tophill. This award-winning British title explores all components of garden ecosystem, from soil to bugs, ponds to trees. Then, accompanied by extremely pretty illustrations, it outlines how to maximize each part’s potential.
- The Once and Future World by J.B. MacKinnon. The subtitle for this book is “nature as it was, as it is, as it could be.” MacKinnon, a Canadian journalist, takes a global approach to his research, but also goes hyperlocal, explaining how something as simple as planting milkweed in a backyard is a choice for a better world.