DesignTO Tours: Inside a Geary Avenue Creative Hub

DesignTO is a registered charitable arts organization that believes design can create a sustainable, just, and joyful world. From January 23 – February 1, 2026, the DesignTO Festival features 100+ free events across Toronto, showcasing hundreds of artists and designers. Known as Canada’s largest annual design festival, DesignTO has welcomed over 1 million attendees, reached 2.6 billion people through media, supported 7+ creatives, and generated $120 million in tourism impact.“DesignTO isn’t just a festival; it’s an anti-loneliness machine,” co-founder Christina Zeidler remarked, underscoring the organization’s power to foster belonging and spark vital conversations about design’s role in shaping a better world.

DesignTO

Join DesignTO for an exclusive house tour of two unique industrial lofts filled with contemporary art, designer furniture, and plants.

Geary Avenue

Join DesignTO for an exclusive house tour on Geary Avenue. Experience two unique industrial lofts filled with contemporary art, designer furniture, and plants.In 2017, four friends (two couples) jointly purchased a 14,000 square foot shipping warehouse on Geary Avenue. Over the next two years architect Tamira Sawatzky and artist Elle Flanders (collaboratively Public Studio), with designer Shaun Moore (Made Design) and florist Todd Caldwell (Emblem Flowers) transformed the industrial building into their homes and work spaces. The attached buildings contain three apartments, three retail spaces, and four rental artist studios.During this behind-the-scenes hours tour, experience two spacious and light-filled second-floor lofts. The owners will share some of the challenges they faced along the way and lessons learned in completing this kind of conversion, plus the joys of long-time friendships and living under one roof.Read more about Moore and Caldwell’s apartment in this Designlines <a href="https://www.designlinesmagazine.com/spaces/hard-loft-comfortable-home/" title="https://www.designlinesmagazine.com/spaces/hard-loft-comfortable-home/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">article</a>, and Sawatzky and Flanders’ apartment in this Globe and Mail <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-design/article-under-one-roof-how-four-friends-used-ingenuity-and-design-to-divvy-up/" title="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-design/article-under-one-roof-how-four-friends-used-ingenuity-and-design-to-divvy-up/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">article</a>, but experience these special spaces yourself by joining the tour.Event Schedule6:00pm – Doors Open6:15pm – House Tour BeginsEvent LocationThe exact address for the house tour will be shared with ticket holders. Please respect the privacy of the homeowners by keeping their address confidential.DesignTO Futures FundThis event is in support of the <a href="https://designto.org/blog/fuel-the-future-of-canadian-design/" title="https://designto.org/blog/fuel-the-future-of-canadian-design/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">DesignTO Futures Fund</a>, our first annual fundraising campaign that fuels the future of Canadian design. Your ticket directly contributes to the non-profit organization’s public programming and annual design festival.Continuing EducationGuests that log professional continuing education hours can request a certificate for 1 hour of structured learning after they attend the tour.

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DesignTO Tours: Inside a Geary Avenue Creative Hub

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DesignTO Tours: Inside a Geary Avenue Creative Hub

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