Jimi S.
Yelp
i live in leslieville; this is weird that no one has reviewed this place yet.
so here goes nothing: upon entering the store the sales guy greeted me before i even got a chance to look at him. after acknowledging him in turn, i began to tackle this mountain of a store.
perhaps funpark is a better moniker than mountain. perhaps clockwork orange funpark is best suited: all the walls are white here and there are lots of things that are glowing, like non-stuffed animal teddy bears. whats cool and what perhaps gives me this feeling is the fact that most if not all of the platforms/tables on which these high style objects of desire are put are lit from underneath or behind. it gives everything a cold futuristic feeling.
i mean, there is warmth in terms of colour, but the designs for things are very slick and cheeky. there are cutlery sets that youd have to think about how to use before you picked them up. a lot of the objects seem to be straight out of hello kitty or manga comics. or theres a bright blue fly swatter called Dr. Skudd with the image of a man or womans face printed on it (cant tell). or there is stuff that is on the extreme end of being an art piece, for example there is a plate, silver in colour, with a blue metallic representation of a balloon dog on it or attached to it (you know, one that a childrens party clown would make). thats one of 2300 pieces made by jeff koons, the original of which resides in the museum of contemporary art in los angeles. (if you dont know, jeff koons is one of todays preeminent contemporary artists, at the very least in terms of recognizability and commercial success.).
i wasnt so strict in my observation to be able to verify this, but it seems that they use one representative of each piece and each is accompanied by a clear card that has in black type the artist's name, a description of each item, the year it was made and if its won any awards. so its very museum-like in its setup.
the prices in general are high, and in some cases (i cannot say a majority or not) are reflective of the fact that probably a fair number of these pieces represent one or a couple of a limited number of reproductions made.
i think its exciting to see a store like this that introduces us to designers innovative and often humorous ideas on everyday items.
it allows us to see these objects that we take for granted anew.
