trace paper studio

This time of year brews a certain draught of nostalgia;  the crisp cold days that find you walking at a slightly quicker pace than maybe you did last week,  the faint strains of holiday music wafting from storefronts as their doors open and close to the street, the promise of that first blanket of white snow that will mark the beginning of the next four months or so of cozy fireplaces, weekend snowmen, and starry ice-skating nights.  We find ourselves reminiscing about past projects.  Two years ago we were absorbed completely by frenzied, sushi-eating, delirious-and-hilarious-midnight-singing deadline mode for a fantastic little project for an event called UnSilent Night in Cambridge Ontario.  This project was completed in the early days of Trace Paper Studio, with our wonderful and frequent collaborator, Matthew Peddie.

Project Description:

This collaborative effort was an installation for Unsilent Night, an annual holiday event in which ambient music leads a community walking tour through the historical centre of Galt.  A series of three paper installations took inspiration from the past uses of abandoned buildings – a flower shop, a book store, and a women’s fashion store – investigated the complexities and subtleties of the full life cycle of a building.  Paper Traces is a poetic yet practical investigation into the phenomenon of declining downtowns in mid-size cities, and an experiment in public art.

Hello and many apologies for the long delay on posting some photographs of the final cart for the Stop’s Night Market…

The truth is, that with no camera of our own at the event, we have been relying on the good will of other attendees for their snappy snapshots.  The following is a photograph of the food cart, designed by Trace Paper Studio’s own Andrea Lacalamita and Gillian Tyrrell in collaboration with independent designers Timea Jakab and Raja Moussaoui.  The photograph was taken by Michaela Garfield.

We’ll try to scare up some more snaps soon enough, so just sit tight folks!

Thank you, as always, for your support!

Well,

After a weekend of power tools (roar!), sporadic rain (get the tarps! get the tarps!), and chalkboard paint (which I still cannot seem to scrub from my skin), we have managed to bring our little baby from fanciful ideas and scribbled sketches to 11 feet of hard wooden reality…

…ok, now for tea and scones.

Just the finishing touches to go.

Hello again friends!

As we looked out our dormer windows on this strangely humid-yet-ready-to-rain-at-any-moment sort of day, an unusual thought arose from the depths.  No – it wasn’t the standard lament of “I really wish I owned a pair of wellies, I’m going to take responsibility for the potential sogginess of my socks and buy some already,”  nor was it “Rainy days are the perfect excuses to bake cookies and watch a whole lot of bad 80′s zombie flicks” – it was in fact, “Is a clear plastic garbage bag a suitable enough replacement for a tarpaulin?”

Before you arch your brows at us quizzically, let us explain:

We have changed our Night Market food cart design to make use of scrap wood off-cuts, and those off-cuts (some five hundred of them) happen to be hiding out on our backyard patio, covered in a skimpy layer of garbage bags for protection from the wrath of storm clouds that are swiftly approaching downtown Toronto.

So as you ponder our predicament, nod in appreciation for the mild severity of the situation, and think to yourselves ‘Yes, I really ought to buy some wellies as well,’ perhaps take a moment to project your reflections on to our latest and greatest design below, and let us know what you think.  We’re always happy to hear your input.

The Stop’s Night Market is just 8 days away, and we can’t wait!

ATTENTION Foodies & Design-Geeks:  we’ve found common ground on which you can come together for one magical night of feasting for both your bellies and your eyes …(cue Hungry Eyes as background music).

The Stop is hosting a Night Market extraordinaire for one evening only, June 20th in the Honest Ed’s alleyway (Bloor & Bathurst…err, you can’t miss it – it’s the blindingly lit Goliath on the south-west corner).  This event promises to be an evening of revelry, and who doesn’t like on of those?  For $50 you get all you can eat and drink of the work of Toronto’s local culinary talent – and, here comes our plug, you’ll get to see our own food cart design in action.

Trace Paper Studio was lucky enough to collaborate with our lovely and oh-so-talented friends Raja Moussaoui and Timea Jakab on this fun little project.  Fabrication will be taking place later in June, but just to get your curiosity piqued see the design drawings below….we’re using cans!  I know -  you know you want to see this.

We hear the Stop’s Night Market website is still under construction, but keep checking back – it will be up and running soon! http://nightmarket.thestop.org/

We’ll keep you posted on our progress…