RBC Canadian Emerging Designers, Toronto, 2019

(The following images and text were published in Canadian Interiors.) The Design Exchange, in partnership with the RBC Foundation, fêted the winner and runners-up in this year’s RBC Canadian Emerging Designer Competition in a ceremony at the DX’s historic Trading Floor. Toronto-based Studio for Architecture and Collaboration, led by Andrew Hill and Jennifer Kudlats, won the $20,000 cash prize, a customized mentorship program and an exhibition at DX. The other finalists were Kfir Gluzberg of Toronto’s Kilogram; Thom Fougere, creative director at Winnipeg home-furnishings manufacturer and retailer EQ3; Toronto landscape and architecture design firm Office Ou; Toronto womenswear designer Avyn of Avyn Studio; and Montreal’s Simon Laliberté, art director, screen printer and founder of BangBang design studio. CUTLINES: Lucas Stanois, industrial designer, Studio Munge; Jon Miura, intern architect, and Matthew Firestone, architectural designer at Studio for Architecture and Collaboration (Studio AC). Yaser Rahmanian, partner, +VG Architects; Andrew Hill, co-founder, Studio AC; and Thomas Payne, founding partner at his namesake architecture firm. Divia Kueber, client success specialist at job-board firm Indeed; Matei Rau, intern architect, Studio AC; Curtis Harrison, fourth-year design student at OCAD University; Mo Soroor, senior associate, and Kiran Dharni, intern, Studio AC; and Shayan Hamdani, financial advisor, Manulife Securities. Dana and Daniel Ezer, she a teacher at Abraham Joshua Heschel day school and he a principal at rental-property firm Novi Properties; accountant Juliana Gonzalez and Juan Lean of his industrial design firm Pacifista. Office Ou’s Uros Novakovic, partner; Sophia Szagala, associate; and partners Sebastian Bartnicki and Nicolas Koff. Emily Woudenberg, creative director, Strike Design Studio; Jordan Armstrong, Toronto host at CreativeMornings, a breakfast lecture series for the creative community; and David Nuff, principal at his graphic design and installation firm Nuff. Ofer and Emma Shahar, designer and co-owners of the Tel Aviv- and Toronto-based interior design and green wall firm Craft & Bloom, and their one-month-old son, Dezzy. Nelson Stoker, graphic designer, Elevate Tech Fest; Ivanna Hreshchuk, graphic designer, DX and Elevate Tech fest; Michaela Halpern, designer at cannabis agency MoCanna; and Mariolya Maksymiw, media freelancer.