...last nite i went out for a couple of drinks with Jason Miller...
...He's in town for the opening of Ministry of the Interior (whose official site isn't up yet, so I am posting a link to a review in sweetspot.ca)... MotI is a new concept store opening this week at 80 Ossington (just north of Queen, right near where the Sparrow was til recently). The space is set up as part-store, part-gallery, and all awesome. Jason MacIsaac has been working on it since earlier this year, gutting what was once an auto-body shop to prepare the now-raw space for peculiar and intrigueing home design accesories for the urban hipster set.....
...What results is a space that sells really cool home accessories... lamps, furniture, plates, wallpaper, bedding, etc.... but also serves as a show space for new, fresh, creative and forward-thinking designers that are making there mark on the world of interiors... He set up a "designer in residence" program that will allow him to host a rotating roster of wunderkind.... selling these higher pricetag pieces to those that can afford, and letting the rest of us simply admire and drool (although try not to stand to close to the pieces if you choose to actually salivate)
.... And in the grand tradition of Opening Soon... I got a call late monday night to come down and help assemble lamps and wipe down plates in preparation for the Tuesday soft launch... my thumb is still sore from the "easy to assemble" David Trubridge lamps....
They are simple enough... but I wouldn't advise putting together more than one without the aid of a thimble (who knew those still had a use in the modern world)... they are well worth it though, as they throw playful shadows around the room and have the appeal of appearing to be caught in their birthday suits....
When I got to the store, amidst the chaotic painting, assembling, cleaning and stress was one installed piece of work... the centre piece of the back room and the first exhibit in the residency program that MacIsaac was running was Jason Miller's Antler Chandelier...
...He's in town for the opening of Ministry of the Interior (whose official site isn't up yet, so I am posting a link to a review in sweetspot.ca)... MotI is a new concept store opening this week at 80 Ossington (just north of Queen, right near where the Sparrow was til recently). The space is set up as part-store, part-gallery, and all awesome. Jason MacIsaac has been working on it since earlier this year, gutting what was once an auto-body shop to prepare the now-raw space for peculiar and intrigueing home design accesories for the urban hipster set.....
...What results is a space that sells really cool home accessories... lamps, furniture, plates, wallpaper, bedding, etc.... but also serves as a show space for new, fresh, creative and forward-thinking designers that are making there mark on the world of interiors... He set up a "designer in residence" program that will allow him to host a rotating roster of wunderkind.... selling these higher pricetag pieces to those that can afford, and letting the rest of us simply admire and drool (although try not to stand to close to the pieces if you choose to actually salivate)
.... And in the grand tradition of Opening Soon... I got a call late monday night to come down and help assemble lamps and wipe down plates in preparation for the Tuesday soft launch... my thumb is still sore from the "easy to assemble" David Trubridge lamps....
They are simple enough... but I wouldn't advise putting together more than one without the aid of a thimble (who knew those still had a use in the modern world)... they are well worth it though, as they throw playful shadows around the room and have the appeal of appearing to be caught in their birthday suits....
When I got to the store, amidst the chaotic painting, assembling, cleaning and stress was one installed piece of work... the centre piece of the back room and the first exhibit in the residency program that MacIsaac was running was Jason Miller's Antler Chandelier...
...Wallpaper named him as one of the best breakthrough designers of 2007... but he has been around for a while now, being pointed out (by those ahead of the curve...ahem, ahem) since at least 2005... (i'm just saying...c'mon Wallpaper)
The photo at the right is actually a smaller version of what is hanging in the store, but it looked so familiar to me that (several hours, countless blisters and two lamps) later I went back through the archives of the long since deleted former blog of mine "Masterstroke" (which, by the way, means "feat of genius" and besides being completely narcissistic as a blog title, also seemed appropriate as a name of this post, both in reference to Miller's work, and the newly opened Ministry of the Interior) and found an entry that I had written in early 2005 about the Canadian design collective Motherbrand. Apparently I had been quite taken with their Cabin show, which re-analyzed the traditional
canadian cottage items for a new millenium, and had gone trolling for other reconstituted Canadiana..... and found this.....The chandelier, as he told us yesterday over beers at Sweaty Betty's, has become the staple of Miller's collection... as he put it so eloquently, "it pays the bills."
...He also assured me that only one deer has ever been harmed in the creation of these lamps....
But Miller is no oneder... (for all of you who don't immediately jump to your late 20th century film reference library and mentally scroll to That Thing You Do, that is one-der.... or, one hit wonder... had to get a pun in here)...
But Miller is no oneder... (for all of you who don't immediately jump to your late 20th century film reference library and mentally scroll to That Thing You Do, that is one-der.... or, one hit wonder... had to get a pun in here)...
His body of work has only been getting better, and everything is just as quirky, imaginative and fun.
A couple of my favourites:
A couple of my favourites:
The tea sets are reconstituted and given new patterns... the piece is called "seconds" and the text from Miller's website actually made me laugh out loud... so I am quoting it here:
"Products that are "seconds" are products that are not quite right. They are imperfect and somehow of lesser value. But who made the rules? Who says a flower can't grow down? Who says a whole bird is any better than half a bird?conventions are for suckers "
The Duct tape Chair was, apparently, according the Ministry of the Interior manager J
ulie, what drew them to Miller's work in the first place... and was, according to her, how MotI ended up with a residence programme at all..... She told me that her and MacIsaac saw this chair and "just had to have it", but it was way too expensive for the start-up to stock right away.... So Julie emailed Miller, who was just finishing up a string of shows, and ruined, his quiet, lazy summer, roping him into being the shining star of this kickass stores premiere........it's a tough life for the talented.... really... my heart goes out to the talented and jet-set young Miller, who must spend his life being creative and playing with conventions.....
....He is a great guy though, and cute too (that's him staring dreamily into the mirror in the photo below). With his laid-back smile and an aura of mischief about him...
I can see how people are attracted to the objects that spill out of his head... he is returning the playfulness of the things you had in your room as a kid to the adult-lescents of today.... adding aesthetics to games....
I for one, could not be more excited to finally get a chance to gaze my way into his daydream mirrors, which I haven't gotten a chance to see yet in person....
I for one, could not be more excited to finally get a chance to gaze my way into his daydream mirrors, which I haven't gotten a chance to see yet in person....
But I will, the store is open now at 80 Ossington (at the corner of Humbert), and Miller's work will be there for a while... get there and check it out.....
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