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A Dazzling Gem
Simple elements and
subtle features help a Toronto jewelry store
shine — and capture the 2007 Will Ching
Design Award.
By Michele Meyer
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Photography Provided by Dialogue 38 |
Even before its redesign was completed,
Toronto jewelry store Eko was already
garnering attention from the likes of
Interior Design, Metropolis, Azure and
Canadian Interiors magazines. But the
night before the store was set to star in a
publicity photo shoot, it wasn’t quite
ready for its close-up.
The redesign of its space — from
the ceiling-to-floor glass showcases to the birch
laminated floors — was complete,
except for one element: the changeable
back wall where local artists’ displays
would hang.
With the much-anticipated photo shoot
looming, interior designer Bennett C. Lo,
Principal of Toronto-based Dialogue 38,
and store owner Mina Yoon decided to
create the first piece of art themselves,
furiously folding, gluing and soldering
materials to the back wall.
“It was an enjoyable
process,” Lo says, remembering feeling
a mix of wonder and panic. “I thought, ‘This
is cool, but let’s finish in time!’”
That hands-on mentality was the spirit of the
project right from the start. Since Dialogue
38 was inundated with other projects, and because
Yoon was a longtime friend of Lo’s, Lo
chose to take on the design project himself.
When he started his firm five years ago, he
did that quite often. But today, with the help
of five other designers, Dialogue 38 takes
on multiple retail and hospitality projects,
using a teamwork approach.
“[Today,] we’re busy, and I’ve
got a team that goes in and out of projects,’’ Lo
says. “But for [Eko], I did 98 percent
of the work.”
In the end, the photo shoot was a
success and the boutique dazzled. But
more importantly, the design was chosen
as the winner in the 2007 Will Ching
Design Competition, which honors
exceptional achievement by a firm of
five or fewer designers. (Dialogue 38
employed fewer than five designers at
the time of the competition.) The award
was announced at IIDA’s Too Cool gala
held in June during NeoCon in Chicago.
But for Lo, transforming this diamond
in the rough to a sparkling gem
was far from easy. The space itself presented
several unique challenges. It
was an extremely deep and narrow rectangle
of just 580 square feet, which
was expanded to 860 square feet in the
redesign. Ceiling heights and wall
widths all varied. Plus, the budget was
tight: less than $150,000.
Working with close friend
Yoon — the two met three years ago through
a mutual friend — brought another potential
risk. “Working with friends can be
good or bad, but fortunately, it was good
in this case,” Lo says.
A HIDDEN TREASURE
From the street, passersby can only see
Eko’s illuminated white MDF walls, birch
laminated floors and an Italian marble
cube that serves as a display case while
concealing the cash register. In the window,
a lone mannequin hints as to what
the store sells. Shoes? Clothing? Jewelry?
One has to enter to learn the answer.
“There was a wonderful
illusion of searching for hidden treasure,” says
Kelly Bauer, FIIDA, Principal of Phoenix’s richärd+bauer and one of four judges
responsible for selecting the winning project for the Will
Ching award. “The interior
grabbed you from the outside. If
you were walking by, it was so
interesting and appealing that
regardless of what it sold, it was an
experience you wanted to try out.”
Strong lighting and ribbed
white walls make the interior lustrous
like a pearl while hiding the
original building’s defects. And
arches visible from the street serve
as frames for foot-wide, floor-toceiling
glass showcases. “Since
each [jewelry] designer is unique,
Yoon wanted to show product on
its own for maximum effect,” Lo
says. “She made few demands — just to display the merchandise
effectively and efficiently on a neutral
background. The rest was
wide open to us.”
Each designer’s grouping of
jewelry hangs or sits on small
platforms in the tall glass cases
throughout the store. Jewelry
designers range from New York’s
Alexis Bittar to France’s La Tribu
Rigaux to Italy’s Paola Volpi. “The
environment adds to the displayed
jewelry’s panache,” says judge
Richard N. Pollack, FIIDA, FAIA,
CEO of San Francisco-based
Pollack architecture.
Eko, which opened in 2000,
was well known in Toronto’s
trendy Queen West neighborhood,
a fashion district near the Ontario
School of Art and Design, long
before the redesign. As a result, Lo
took the risk of hiding merchandise
from the exterior. “[Yoon] has
a strong following that knows what
she’s about,” Lo says. “We took
more of the approach of a gallery
space, because the product she
carries is very creative.”
The artistic elements were
recognized by competition judges. “Someone took a lot of
attention you don’t typically see in
a retail application,” says Bauer.
LESS IS MORE
While the challenges were complex,
the result is not. “[The
design’s] bold, yet simple and elegant
execution was so very different
from many of the other submissions,”
says Brian G. Thornton,
IIDA, AIA, IIDA Vice President of
Communications, Will Ching judging
moderator and Director of
Design for MGM MIRAGE Design
Group in Las Vegas. “That’s what
impressed us. It takes so much
more to pull off a simple solution.
Less truly is more in this case.”
Lo feels that way about taking
credit for his work. He deliberately
chose not to make his firm’s name
eponymous. “I chose the name
[Dialogue 38] to reflect that creative
work is a team effort,” he says. “As
for the number, I was 38 at the
time.” He also enjoys interior projects
because “you can get a grip
on a smaller space as opposed to
architecture work, and that’s satisfying.”
But Lo doesn’t just take on
small projects. The firm is working
on a number of large assignments,
including an 8,000-square-foot
restaurant.
Despite the firm’s attempt to
remain low-key, its work has
caught the attention of established
interior designers internationally,
including Bauer. “Their approach
is innovative, artful and very well
executed,” she says.
Whatever is next on Dialogue
38’s plate — big or small “it says
good things for our profession,”
Pollack says. “They did a great job
with a somewhat limited budget
and staff. It proves you don’t have
to be a mega-firm to solve your
client’s needs.”
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