unconsumption:

Toronto is one of my favorite North American cities. Even though I haven’t lived in Toronto in more than 15 years, I’ve made several return visits, for business and pleasure, and enjoy keeping tabs on what’s happening there.

Over the past several years, I’ve noticed a handful of examples of creative reuse around town, particularly in restaurants and bars on the west side. 

One such restaurant, Parts and Labour, designed by Castor, features lamps made from fire extinguishers (pictured above) and burned-out fluorescent tubes (shown below); bar stool bases are former truck springs. (photos by Lorne Bridgman, via zagat)

North of Parts and Labour, at a more recently opened place called Kitch, the bar’s constructed from wood reclaimed from a 70-year-old bowling alley. Salvaged stereo speakers are also part of the decor. (photo via Toronto Life magazine)

My brief roundup also includes Bar Neon (pictured below), where original ceilings were exposed after sections of drywall were removed during renovation. There, drinks will be served from an old shipping container (still under construction, from what I gather), and bathroom floors are inlaid with pennies. (photos by Gizelle Lau, via Toronto Life magazine)

Are there other examples that I should know about (and visit)?

more things that make the city wonderful :)

unconsumption:

Also in Toronto:

In adaptive reuse news: A long-shuttered historic building in the heart of the city is coming back to life.

The renovation of Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens into a joint athletic center for Ryerson University and a supermarket is well under way. The building was home to the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team from 1931 until 1999, when the team moved to a new arena.

The supermarket, part of the family-owned Loblaws chain, is already open. The store features a maple leaf-shaped sculpture made from Maple Leaf Gardens’ old chairs.

(photos: top, by Craig James White on Flickr; bottom, Ken Faught/Toronto Star)

I’ve stopped with Toronto Mondays because I finished school, sorry about that. but I was recently scrolling through campus, and it’s weird to see the streets so empty.

in other news, ELISE I MISS YOU.

patriciareee:

ART + FOOD + DRINKS?

YES, YES AND YES PLEASE

FRIENDS GATHER AROUND! LET US GO.

(via toronto-pictures)

toronto monday! who knows if this will be a thing. it’s my last monday of the semester :D (yet there is still so much to do! yikes!) 

today I bring you pictures from the highway, the DVP to be exact. Elise do you remember the times in which we would see other on the GO train or bus because of school and other activities? you must have the route memorized because of how often we travel to get downtown. I can never really focus on the bus rides, no matter what exam or test I need to cram for when I arrive in toronto. the ride to and from the city are some of the rides that I enjoy the most, I think it’s because 30-45 mins is just enough time to reflect on what I did or what I will be doing. also car rides are just very calming to me.

toronto monday! once again there are beautiful blue skies today but the temperatures have dropped a little and I think we’re back on track with seasonal weather.

today I bring you OCADU. it’s the main building which is the weirdest building and certainly houses the most colourful people inside, art students. I love art students. and I love art so it’s also a good thing that the AGO is near by! 

when I was a tiny kid and we went to the AGO for field trips. my favourite thing was this giant hamburger made out of pillows and I really wanted to sit on it but we weren’t allowed to touch it and I thought “was the point in that?” whenever I do see it, I still think that. also before the renovations there was this play area, and it was like a forest and it had a tiny door and costumes and art supplies and everything a kid could want. I thought it was pretty magical.

Edits for Edith: yes about the renovations, the space with all the glass and wood (the Italia Galleria) was designed by Frank Gehry! he also designed the really cool spiral staircase inside.

22 degrees Toronto Monday! I don’t know why I scheduled it this way but my busiest day this semester is Tueday, and it seems like every Tuesday I have something due lol oh well the semester is almost over :D happy days

this week I bring you the terrace outside of Sidney Smith!! this was last week but ugh the weather has been brilliant for the whole week. these pictures come with a story :) so on this day Person and I had lunch and he always walks me to class. we were just sitting and talking outside when I checked my phone and I had received a text from Rida. she wrote something like “stop talking to Person, he’s so handsy. nice boots though”. yes, Rida is my stalker. these texts went out for awhile, I even shouted out her name to see if she would appear. finally she came outside to talk to us as she was sitting inside the building but right in front of us. oh Rida she’s a funny one, and I was taking picture of her too but I still did not see her. Rida’s surprises are the best though, always a good time. 

this is too weird for mid March!

I was just hanging at SidSmith waiting for my late night tutorial and I had to go the washroom. I don’t usually taken photos in the washroom, but when I do it’s about tumblr and uoft! haha it was weird to see the university reaching out via tumblr but it’s good to see more people using it.

here’s the link if you want to check it out: http://joyatuoft.tumblr.com/

I read through some of the posts; they’re mainly retweets and reblogs but I can relate to some and that’s nice. 

Toronto Monday for Elise! Well this was taken in Markham, but close enough! This was our Christmas Sbucks date :) I needed a reminder of summer so badly today when facing -15 to -20 degree weather, and couldn’t think of another better than those hot summer days best chilled with a frapp or iced coffee.

Also since it’s March, I feel obligated to say “Beware the Ides of March”!!!! ugh and it’s so true, next week I have a term test, and two essays. March madness begins here at UofT with classes finishing the first week of April. I hope St.Andrews is everything awesome and I hope your classes are interesting :)

fml now I want fish tacos like no tomorrow

unconsumption:

In Toronto, several people who work together in a group known as “The Art of Reuse” open up pop-up thrift shops in different locations every six months or so, selling merchandise — many items one-of-a-kind — they’ve handpicked (or “curated,” as they say) from thrift stores around metro Toronto.

The group aims to “re-invent thrift shopping and the connotation it comes with, whether that be negative or positive,” by creating “well-branded, aesthetically pleasing” shopping environments with merchandise priced at $50 or less.

The temporary stores are “meant to cater to both the fashion conscious and the frugal customer alike.”

In The Globe and Mail, Katharine Scarrow reports:

“It’s never been about generating cash quickly, but raising awareness about thrifting and teaching people about sustainability,” says [group member] Courtney [Eastman].

In the six months leading up to [a store opening], the group spends four to five days a week, fanning to three to four shops a day, scouring each one for roughly an hour at a time. That’s roughly 480 hours of picking (and ultimately ditching) piles of clothes and accessories leading up to the main event.

More: In Pictures: Pop-up thrift shop draws a stylish crowd - The Globe and Mail