Slashpile Designs Blog

Slashpile Designs Virtual Shopping Tour - Made You Look December 18 2013

Made You Look is the final stop in our Virtual Shopping Tour (for this year, anyway!) Located at 1338 Queen Street West, just west of Dufferin, the famous Queen West Store, established in 2001, represents over 100 local Toronto jewellery designers and has become a real hub for the jewellery community in Toronto. Attached to the shop is a large studio where 20, self employed, in-house designers make their jewellery under their own brand names. This means Made You Look Customers can browse a diverse collection of beautiful handmade work and interact with jewellers to consult about custom design and other services. Take a stroll down Queen Street West, and visit the store in Parkdale, one of Toronto’s most unique, diverse and dynamic neighbourhoods and see for yourself the wonderful array of all kinds of jewellery. They offer everything from high end jewellery in precious metals (including wedding and engagement rings) to eclectic fashion, costume and art jewellery. All jewellery in Made You Look is designed and made by local Toronto designers. Here's a video from which you can learn more about Made You Look from owner, Sarah Dougall herself! We absolutely love the store and are so proud to sell our jewellery in Made You Look. Most of our work can be found in a case on the left wall when you walk in. We used to be displayed in the South store, but both stores have been recently combined so all Made You Look jewellery can be found in one convenient location on the North side of Queen St. [gallery ids="2450,2459,2458,2453,2452,2451"]

Slashpile Designs Virtual Shopping Tour - Gallery Catalyst November 07 2013

Gallery Catalyst is very different from the other stores we sell our work in. The concept is affordable art: every piece is one of a kind, and comes in one of 3 sizes. All pieces of the same size are the same price, whether they were created by an established artist or someone fresh out of school. The idea is to make art collecting affordable and accessible to everyone. Artists featured include Dr. Seuss, Billy dee Williams and Rachel Isadora and up-and-coming artists like Johnathan Ball, Joann Côté and Adrienne Dagg.

The gallery opened in May 2013, and is a great addition to the Queen West strip. The idea was inspired by a gallery the owner visited in Paris, showcasing new and established artist equally. Each artist has their own podium display, with the 3 size options, and prices displayed on the wall. Customers can flip through the variety of paintings, prints, photos, etc, and even get them framed onsite. Slashpile Designs jewellery is displayed inside the gallery, in the cases near the counter, where there is a selection of jewellery for sale by local Toronto artists. Behind the cases are some larger pieces of art, also for sale. Gallery Catalyst also holds art openings and events, and the manager, Kelsey, was telling me about one opening where the artist actually was spontaneously struck by inspiration and actually started unwrapping her paintings and painting over them on the Gallery Catalyst is an exciting new space to check out, great for unique holiday gift ideas. Why not give someone the gift of original art?! Visit their website at https://gallerycatalyst.ca/


Slashpile Designs Virtual Shopping Tour - Flock Boutique November 04 2013

Uncommon goods for birds of a different feather. Read through to the bottom of the post to learn how you can win $25 to spend at Flock! We're going to go a little further for this week's stop in our virtual tour--we're heading to Ottawa! Located in the former House of Staples at 1275 Wellington St. West, Flock Boutique is the big sister to Workshop Boutique, a fashion staple in Ottawa’s Byward Market. You can check out their website at https://flockboutique.ca. Flock Boutique loves Canadian handmade - which is why they carry the work of over 160 of Canada's loveliest and most unique designers! They carry dresses & accessories, jewellery (of course!) scarves, mitts, finger puppets & the cutest little alternative baby section you have ever seen. The shop is fresh and fun and the vibe is grown up, work wearable, and ethically made The ladies of Flock also offer classes in sewing, knitting, jewellery-making, and various other crafty pastimes. Christina & Bridget, the duo behind Flock, met 9 years ago around 3am outside in the Byward Market building while they were waiting in a line up to sell their goodies on Canada Day. When the skies darkened and the winds started to pick up, they tied their tents together, thinking the weight would help them out. Instead, they had created a giant sail that had the pair gripping on for dear life while being pelted with hail and watching their handmade goodies slowly making their way into the storm drain! Christina and Bridget decided to open Workshop Boutique (their first store) 6 months later and Flock Boutique 5 years after that. They must be crazy, but they've done a wonderful job on both stores! Always a pleasure to stop by and spend some time looking around whenever we are in Ottawa!! :) Both Flock and Workshop Boutiques carry a wide selection of Slashpile Designs jewellery, so make sure you check them out when you're in town! [gallery ids="2405,2404,2403,2402,2401,2400"]

Slashpile Designs Virtual Shopping Tour – Freedom Clothing Collective October 25 2013

The next stop in our virtual shopping tour takes us to Bloor and Ossington, to Freedom Clothing Collective. Freedom is a not for profit organization promoting fashion, art, design and craft. They are located conveniently close to Ossington subway station, at 939 Bloor St West. Freedom sells items by all local Canadian designers, and 75% of their items are made in the GTA. The store has such a cozy, welcoming feel to it and everything inside is beautiful to behold. They sell everything including clothing, jewellery, accessories, soaps and housewares. Even the display units in the store are wonderfully designed refurbished pieces of furniture by Poppyseed Living and are for sale (https://poppyseedliving.blogspot.ca). Together, Jelena from Poppyseed Living and Karen from KooCoo Carillo (https://www.koocoo.ca) run the shop, along with some other collaborators. We have been selling our work in Freedom Clothing for years and love working with them. They currently carry a great selection of our jewellery, including our molecule line, 1 Carrot Diamond Rings, Dino Series and are currently the only retailer of our mismatched shark friend stud earrings.[gallery link="file" ids="2379,2382,2381,2380,2383,2388"] Freedom Clothing Collective is a awesome store to get special, local gifts. There is something unique for everyone (men and women!) and to suit any budget. Happy shopping! View Larger Map


Slashpile Designs Virtual Shopping Tour - Corktown Designs October 20 2013

Corktown Designs is a fantastic place to find unique and interesting contemporary jewellery. The venue itself is beautiful, with brick walls and glass cases showcasing a huge variety of handcrafted jewellery and accessories, as well as some mass-produced pieces. It is located in Toronto's historic Distillery District, which is a part of the city that is definitely worth visiting! The pedestrian-only village was formerly operating as the Gooderham and Worts Distillery from 1832-1990, which at one point was the largest whiskey and spirits distillery in the world. More recently, the 40 buildings of the old distillery were restored and opened in 2003 as a major tourist attraction, with lots of shops, restaurants, cafes, galleries and artist studios. There are often craft and farmer's markets, festivals as well as music, fashion and art events.

Corktown Designs is right in the middle of the distillery district, at 55 Mill Street. The staff are very nice and helpful, and it's a great place to shop for unique and special pieces or even just to browse and look at all the jewellery. The jewellery is separated in the case by designer, and they also carry some accessories, such as unique bags and scarves. Here's a photo of our display, which is located towards the back of the store on the wall to the left of the entrance. This is definitely a great place to check out for holiday shopping, or for something special to wear to all those fancy parties coming up! I hope you enjoy your visits as much as we do!


Slashpile Virtual Shopping Tour October 10 2013

[caption id="attachment_2331" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Sneak preview of the first virtual tour through Wise Daughters Craft Market![/caption] With the holiday season soon approaching, we thought this would be the perfect opportunity for us to introduce you to some of the stores that carry our work--there are some really great shops (both local and abroad!) that you might like to visit! Over the next few weeks, we will be creating a series of posts on our blog. Each post will give you a 'virtual tour' of a specific retail store, where you can find Slashpile Designs jewellery, along with many other wonderful things. We'll show you some photos of the shop, introduce you to the staff and let you know about any upcoming sales or events in that location. So stay tuned...and enjoy! Happy shopping!