DesignTO News

As part of DesignTO’s ‘Expand What’s Possible’ Campaign, we’re looking at the people, projects, and ideas that demonstrate what an investment in design can make possible, not only today, but years into the future.

17 years of ideas, people and projects. Invest in what comes next.
For 17 years, DesignTO has brought people together to design a better future.

The Yonge + St. Clair BIA and DesignTO invite artists, architects, designers, and multidisciplinary creatives to submit proposals for seven site-specific installations during DesignTO Festival 2027. Funding between $5,000 and $7,500 CAD is available. Apply by September 13, 2026.

A year ago, DesignTO launched our first fundraising campaign, which helped us sustain our annual festival and public programs.

It’s time to celebrate innovation, design, and community at the annual King East Design District (KEDD) Neighbourhood Hop, organized by DesignTO, in collaboration with Old Town Toronto BIA.

DesignTO Award winner Becca Wakefield explores how plant-based and bacterial cellulose materials might offer alternatives to single-use plastics.

Anaïe Dufresne, one of the organizers behind the DesignTO Award winning exhibition ‘Ensemble presents: Pot-au-feu’, approaches her work through a lens shaped by scenography, the practice of creating stage environments or atmospheres.

Multimedia artist and 2026 Best in Festival: Window Installation Award winner Yana Rzayeva invites passersby to slow down, look closely, and engage with materials that carry both history and transformation.

Best Product/Object Design Award recipient Atelier Fomenta approaches design as a collaborative and evolving process.

Emerging Artist/Designer Award recipient Sky Ece Ulusoy explores the unseen forces that shape emotional and mental experience, inviting visitors into a space where fragility and resilience exist in tension.

Founders’ Award recipient Quan Thai explores the meaning of home through ‘TO·BE·LONGING: Portraits of Queer Living’, an exhibition that brings together stories of identity, memory, and belonging through domestic space.