If it’s pink, floral, distressed and not nailed down, chances are this Toronto collector has the perfect place for it. There’s no use searching for an ordinary mug inside Barbie Brandes’s charmingly crooked kitchen cupboards. As far as she’s concerned, every day’s an exquisite teacup day, and no occasion is too mundane for an elaborate […]
Second chances
Originally published in January 2008 in Canadian Home and Country
A Toronto designer proves that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure Each day, Michael Simardone weaves his bike through the laneways in Toronto’s historic neighbourhoods, where Garbage Day is like Christmas to this custom furniture designer. “If there’s a bin, I’m in,” he says, speaking of the objects relegated curbside by homeowners. “Last week […]