TORONTO The 14th iteration of Interior Design Show, Canada’s largest contemporary design fair, took place from Jan. 27 to Sunday, bringing speakers, installations, and 300 exhibitors to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. This year, show director Shauna Levy employed visual merchandiser Jentry Chin as a creative consultant. “He helped us put all the elements together,” Levy said. “We wanted the branding and the branding experience to be really tight.”   Inspired by Toronto’s recent growth and booming condo industry, Levy settled on an industrial look for promotional material, signage, and decor. Chin was on board. “It’s raw, which is really big right now, and it’s inexpensive,” Chin said. The show made use of scaffolding, exposed truss, fencing, wooden crates, and loading pallets. Invitations and advertisements incorporated cranes, a common sight in downtown Toronto.

Branding, signage, and way-finding material at the show was larger and had a more consistent look. Show signage was in all caps, in black or gray. “It’s a little more user-friendly,” Chin said. Builds were also taller than in the past. “It’s almost like you’re in a city, because everything is really high this year,” Levy said about the show floor.

The organizers calculated that 50,000 guests visited this year’s show, with a record 5,500 guests attending the opening-night party held January 26. New additions to show programming included the "How Do You Live?" exhibit, where six local design firms created living spaces within a two-storey structure on the show floor.