Rage December: Gift Picks

If you haven't already, head over to the Rage online at www.ragetoronto.ca and join up for the Kensington indie-haven's monthly newsletter.

This month, the Rage lists its top picks for gift giving; let's us know about the last Ndeur shoes available and also highlights other great shops in the area to make Christmas shopping easier!

The Rage offers the biggest selection of clothing, accessories and beauty products from local designers.

Rage, 13 Kensington Avenue
Also available on Etsy at therage.etsy.com.

Layout by John Mong

One of a Kind Gifts until Dec. 7

by Daniel Wilson

(photos from One of a Kind Blog)

The One of a Kind Show is an oasis of darling crafts, stylish threads and funky bobbles in the freezing, wind-blasted wasteland of the Exhibition Place. Each vendor has the chance to create their own little nook expressing their visual aesthetic like tiny islands of style in the cavernous airplane hanger of a venue.

After sipping a perhaps slightly indulgent 9 a.m. vodka and orange juice in the all white press lounge, I wandered around the hanger as exhibitors set up. Sadly, the press breakfast was at 9 and the show did not open until 11 a.m., so most exhibitors were probably sound asleep in their hotel rooms with their booths safely covered up.

Of the people there I met the lovely Katia Dion of Agence Ka in Montreal. Her agency helps support independent Montreal designers by aiding in their PR, selling their clothes at shows and representing them in the Montreal boutiques. I helped Katia shift around the rolling racks of clothes in the awkward, corner booth they had given her and the booth looked much better.

This year's One Of A Kind Show promises to be a great source for gifts for those hard to buy for loved ones, yourself included!

Until December 7th at The Direct Energy Centre at Toronto Exhibition Place.

Gifts for Gals: My Tagalongs

Gifts for gals on the go - especially the ones who already have everything!

My Tagalongs are travel/purse accessories, packaged into pretty little organized kits. The Purse Hooker (have you seen these in restaurants?) is a collapsible hook that can sit on table to help keep your bags off your chair and off the floor. And it works! ($15)

There's the Emergency Valet which has a tampon tube, eco-tote, sticky notes, a sewing kit and a little floss. ($30) I'm thinking the teens will be all over this.

My fav though is the Jet Sets - perfect for flying. It's two empty/refillable airless pump jars that are airport friendly ($18).

My Tagalongs are available in the handbag section of The Bay stores across Canada.

Drake Hotel General Store to open this weekend

(thanks for the E-mail from Rock-it Promotions)

The Drake Hotel General Store, located directly adjacent to the hotel at 1144 Queen West, will be a curiously edited shop catering to the sensible and the hedonistic, the traveller and the neighbour. Slated to open Saturday, November 22, it is a destination for fine goods and goodies with a sense of whimsy and nostalgia.

Merchandise will range from French hotel housewares to jewellery from NYC’s In God We Trust ($60-$100), Le Cool guidebooks ($39), Malin+Goetz apothecary products (Essential Travel Kit $42), candles ($39) and totes ($45) from Opening Ceremony, a wide array of vintage postcards and much more. Like the Drake Hotel, the General Store will contain a healthy dose of Canadiana and art curios, including Hudson’s Bay classic striped throws ($150), vintage Toronto and Canadian souvenirs like key chains, matchbooks and badges, ninja stars by local industrial designers Mat/Cult (box of 3/$14) and naughty colouring books by local artist Mallory Diaczun ($30).

The Drake Hotel General Store will also carry much of what you would find in a classic general store with a Drake twist, including tortoise shell toothbrushes and black toilet paper alongside eccentric items like Marie Antoinette action figures and Mexican good luck packets that surprise and delight. New merchandise will appear monthly.

Store designers and directors Carlo Colacci and Joyce Lo, the duo behind local clothing label Shared, are renowned for their recent Toronto pop-up shop and have based the design of the store on the combination of a Queen West gallery within a retail shopping environment. Recycled French country meets urban sophisticate, the 350-square-foot interior will feature reclaimed wood cabinets and mismatched tables crafted from aged materials sourced locally throughout Ontario, and set upon a vintage inspired custom diamond-patterned floor. The exterior sign is a neon cross, reminiscent of traditional European pharmacies. Keeping with the overall Drake mix of high and low, kitsch and chic, the design makes for a retail concept that truly inspires the imagination.

The Drake Hotel is located at 1150 Queen Street West (between Dovercourt and Dufferin), and can be reached at 416.531.5042.

First Look: One of a Kind Show @ Sale

In its 34th year, the One of a Kind Show is all about 'Holiday Windows' this season.

With hundreds of environmentally friendly, locally produced and unique gift ideas, the One of a Kind Show houses emerging artists, craftspeople and highly talented artisans under one giant roof! Discover visual art, toys, jewellery, fashion, ceramics, glass, home décor, food and much more!

WHERE: Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place, 100 Princes’ Blvd., Toronto
WHEN: November 27th - December 7th, 2008
Weekdays 11am-10pm, Saturdays 10am-9pm, Sundays 10am-6pm

At the Show (taken from the One of a Kind Show BLOG):

1) Sara Guindon & Sam Purdy / The PinPals
2) Jennifer Neill & Valerie Neill / Judy Black
3) Meghan Irish / Identity Apparel
4) Florence Hupin / Trace
5) Joern Schmidt / Tresnormale
6) Sylwia Bartosik / Sylwanka Clothing

It’s cute, but does it have to be so creepy?

by Daniel Wilson

This was my main thought about "contemporary crafts" this past Saturday as I bustled in from the blowing snow and slippery streets of Queen St West into the over-heated, yet cozy second floor of the Gladstone Hotel for M.A.D.E - the Modern Art and Design Exhibition.

At the entrance hung, festively with cheer, an assortment of head-bumpingly low ceramic objects representing the work of several of the creepy crafters. Pink balls with gaping mouths and single animal antlers hung from fishing line over the gathered shoppers.

Much of the work would give anyone, even over the age of majority, nightmares for Christmas. If all this sounds cynical, it’s not meant to. The arts and crafts on sale were wonderful and often whimsical, but there seems to be a strong trend among crafters to make creepy art.

Alex Boisjoli’s witty ceramic potatoes poke fun at the uselessness of many decorative objects. Alex’s dismembered ceramic doll heads mounted like deer are rather disturbing and the mounted pieces that have deer heads have human fingers instead of antlers.
Lesley Anne Green’s pieces at first could be cute, until you look closely at the gnarled teeth of the snowman heads and the alarming grimace of the girl on a bike. Her work is fun, detailed and well executed, but again, not the kind of thing one should buy for a child or an elderly person prone to heart problems.

In the Magic Pony section of the show stood a doll dressed in a black Victorian gown that inexplicably had a strange owl head and reminded me of Virginia Woolf, and on a tiny shelf of it’s own was a innocent looking pen and ink drawing of a happy little person carving and eating slices of a happy looking walrus creature.

So I ask the crafting community, what’s wrong? Why are you trying to give us nightmares? Some have suggested it is in response to the growing scariness of the world, much like horror movies. One Gladstone employee said, “crafting is scary, the crafts should scare people too.” Another friend said simply, “creepy sells.”

One of a Kind Holiday Gifts

Everyone knows that malls nearing the Christmas and holiday season are nightmarish! Although malls usually provide a one-stop shopping experience, staying away can be stress free and pleasant!

Prickly Pear | Philo-soapy | Adhesif Clothing Co. | Wendy Ryan Folk Art | Moonrox | Tsunami Glassworks

The One of a Kind Christmas Show and Sale, Thursday, November 22 - Sunday, December 2, 2007
Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place $10-$12

Over 800 artisans deliver the latest in fashion and accessories, gourmet treats, art, toys and fine crafted creations. Complimentary childcare, wheelchairs, parcel check.

Meet some designers at last year's One of a Kind Show & Sale here >>