‘Surface Impressions’ is an exhibition highlighting the dynamic interactions between a material’s physical properties and the results of creative techniques applied to it. This exhibition includes 9 local and international designers exploring how materials can respond to different processes, leading to unexpected outcomes and applications.

As part of their commitment to sustainability and fostering design talent, Umbra is introducing a new 0.6mm recycled uncoated leather to their roster. With its paper-like thinness and flexibility, this material offers a unique opportunity for creative exploration. Designers were asked to consider how its physical properties can be leveraged, challenged, or even transformed to yield interesting results.

These designs emphasize the material’s innate qualities while exploring its potential for use in the whole environment we live and work in, blending form and function in unexpected ways.

Designers

Amunì is a nomadic industrial design studio that brings a global perspective to products. Having no fixed location has allowed them to bring in fresh ideas from local surroundings into what they do. Amunì is Sicilian for “let’s go”— a nod to the studio’s nomadic nature, and “let’s go get this project started.” Amunì is currently composed of two designers: Dom and Eugenio, who take pride in their shared Italian heritage, seeking to carry on the spirit of both their centuries-long family traditions of hand craftsmanship in the work they produce. 

Attirail Design Office aims to incorporate balance and functionality into everyday objects and gear, focusing on producing designs that are durable and enjoyable. The studio’s approach is based on instinct and exploration, seeking the junction between sensibility and rationalism. The team’s various interests and combined experience in many fields makes it possible for them to work on products ranging from houseware to sports equipment, fashion accessories and technical clothing.

Khadija Aziz is an interdisciplinary, Toronto-based artist and educator. Driven by a love for playfulness and experimentation, she investigates the making and transformation of patterns through hand-machine collaboration. By marrying slow textile-making techniques with spontaneous digital manipulation methods, Khadija explores the potentials of digital materiality, bringing the digital into physical and the tangible into digital spaces. Her art practice has been recognized with awards from Craft Ontario in 2019 and 2020, and from the Surface Design Association in 2020. She has an MFA from Concordia University (2023) and a BFA from OCAD University (2020).

JDH Projects is a design studio, established in Toronto in 2018 by Korean artist Jeremy Do Hyun Joo. The studio focuses on furniture, objects, and spaces, spirited by the proportions and forms within Asia and Africa. Primarily through natural materials, JDH Projects produces works that strike the tension between the simple and complex, concomitant of the ebb and flow of memory and time.

Leading Kutarq Studio, architect and designer Jordi López Aguiló designs lighting, objects and furniture with a unique and pragmatic perspective. Each project involves a methodical process that emphasizes both material and in-depth research. With the constant challenge of revealing the “soul” behind his objects, he creates honest and timeless designs with a life of their own. After spending time abroad collaborating with prestigious architecture firms in Paris and Copenhagen, he settled down in his home town Valencia where he’s been leading his own studio since 2012.

Christian Maidankine holds a Master of Architecture degree from Toronto Metropolitan University and is now an artist-in-residence at Harbourfront Centre. His background in architecture and interest in making has led to an exploration with various materials, mostly leather. Having aphantasia, the inability to imagine any types of visuals or sensations, he has developed a process which is rooted in making through iteration. MAIDANKINE’s work carefully considers making, craft, and the person who the object is for.

RICOSTUDIO is a Montreal-based industrial design firm. They design thoughtful products and creative spaces that connect emotionally with people. They work on innovation driven projects for all types of organizations that strive to stand out and challenge the status quo in their industry. RICOSTUDIO also designs and sells its own products under the brand Thoughts and Objects (T+O). The T+O brand is a collaborative platform between designers and manufacturers, focusing on producing small, exclusive series of sustainable objects designed for those who appreciate beautiful things made the right way.

Jazmin Wolff is an interior designer focused on creating spaces that enhance occupant well-being and comfort while respecting the context and culture of each site. Jazmin gained valuable experience designing light fixtures at the Design Fabrication Zone at Toronto Metropolitan University, merging functionality with innovative design.

By integrating thoughtful concepts with technical design thinking, Toronto based designer Mal Yu creates objects that blend playfulness with emotional depth, distilling fleeting moments into impactful forms. Their approach centers on an unconventional articulation of form and function, resulting in works that redefine space with creativity and purpose, reflecting and transforming familiar aspects of material culture.

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‘Surface Impressions’ is organized by DesignTO in partnership with Umbra, and supported by the Government of Ontario, City of Toronto, with media partner AZURE Magazine.

About DesignTO

DesignTO is a non-profit arts organization celebrating 15 years of designing a sustainable, just, and joyful future. From January 24-February 2, 2025, the DesignTO Festival features 100+ free events across Toronto, showcasing hundreds of artists and designers. Known as Canada’s largest annual design festival, DesignTO has welcomed over 1 million attendees, reached 2.6 billion people through media, supported 6,500+ artists, and generated $120 million in tourism impact. “DesignTO isn’t just a festival; it’s an anti-loneliness machine,” co-founder Christina Zeidler remarked, underscoring the organization’s power to foster belonging and spark vital conversations about design’s role in shaping a better world.