Jean Grant

Nov 4, 2024 | torontolife.com | Jean Grant

A decade ago, Briony Douglas quit her ad sales job and decided to pursue her artistic hobbies full time. In 2019, a friend asked her to make an elephant sculpture for Holt Renfrew’s anti-poaching charity, Knot on My Planet, and Douglas made one out of 500 pounds of rope. After that, brands started lining up to commission their own larger-than-life installations.

Aug 19, 2024 | torontolife.com | Jean Grant

For most of his life, Rui Mateus Amaral wanted to be a performer. After studying dance and theatre in Toronto, he was introduced to the art world by his partner, gallerist ­Daniel Faria. The pair travelled to art shows and biennials around the world, and after completing a master’s in criticism and curatorial practices at OCAD, Mateus Amaral helped Faria open his eponymous Toronto gallery in 2011.

Aug 7, 2024 | torontolife.com | Jean Grant

Kaelen Haworth launched her eponymous fashion line at age 24, fresh out of New York’s Parsons School of Design, and started showing collections at New York Fashion Week. In 2017, she pivoted to start a size-inclusive label called Second Sight. But the design world can be tough on smaller brands, so after she and her husband, Simon, moved home to Toronto with their two sons in late 2020, she decided to focus on curating and styling.

Aug 2, 2024 | torontolife.com | Jean Grant

Including a luxurious bouclé chaise, a mid-century modern throne and a design-forward Roly Poly armchairFor fans of boucléLanai chaise1 Casualife has been selling outdoor furniture for nearly 40 years, with showrooms in Markham and Mississauga. This chaise is covered in a polypropylene fabric that’s resistant to sun, sweat, stains and mildew but feels as soft as an indoor material. With rounded edges and a recessed base, it makes a stylish statement by the pool.

Jul 5, 2024 | torontolife.com | Jean Grant

Irene Kim has been helping Torontonians achieve their sartorial dreams for over a decade. She’s known for mixing contemporary and vintage looks: she grew up borrowing Benetton and Ralph Lauren pieces from her mother and thrifting London Fog trench coats. “It was the age of grunge, so I stood out,” she says. As the child of Korean immigrants, Kim didn’t realize that fashion could be a real career and instead went into law.