DIY storefronts
Once the provenance of li’l ol’ craft fair ladies on one end and crafty hipsters and stitch ‘n’ bitchers on the other, this do-it-yourself movement has really gained some mainstream traction! “DIY” projects popularized by Readymade, Blueprint, Wish and other decor magazines as quirky and original - an antidote or contrast to swiss modern - for the masses and by curators and industrial designers (see Canadian design sanctum, Made) for the more high-brow, this trend is fun to watch in the making. West Queen West welcomes 2 interesting players: The Workroom and Shopgirls (they’re neighbours incidently). The former is a workshop, and the latter a store selling only Canadian artisans’ products. Self-consciously hip, and extremely earnest, well maybe, but would you rather have the same stuff as thousands of people or maybe just 1 or 2?
