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Meet Noda Design

By Toronto

It’s about time the city formally meets one of its most creative and talented interior designers – Toronto based (and globally connected) Nora Voon of Noda Design! For well over a decade, she’s been building up a portfolio of homes, offices and restaurants around the world… and now, she’s opened her first brick and mortar shop here in the city!

Their flagship location is now open by appointment at: at 11 King St. East (Toronto, Ontario. M5C 3C2) 

In Noras own words:

A well-designed space should tell a story. Of great travels, of love, passion, mystery, seduction. At Noda you won’t find cold, empty, minimal Instagram spaces in our portfolio, that’s never been our style. We go for texture, for artifacts, bold rich colours, for quirk and kink. 

Let us introduce ourselves. We are Nora Voon, founder, artist, designer, a lover of traditional craftsmanship, and a dedicated traveler. As a graduate of Inchbald School of Design in London, UK, Nora studied Interior Architecture and was awarded for her work at the Preen Fashion House by Fox Linton Associates. 

 

From there Nora took to the world, to work with artisans and designers on projects in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North America. This time inspired Nora’s love for organic motifs mixing high design with delicate crafts. 

Nora created Noda to honour the places she loves, the people she respects, and frankly to infuse the architecture and design world with a great mischievous sense of delight. Along for the ride are Ceren Kaptan, our lead product and furniture designer with degrees from Florence, Italy, and Turkey. And to keep us all on our toes is Julia Milborne our haute marketer, strategist, and client relations with a background in marketing and real estate.

 

Yes, we’re all women team and so proud of it. #Badass We bring a female empowerment perspective to every project and piece. On our own, we led adventurous lives, and now working together we bring that same all-in energy to the spaces and objects we create. 

From the get-go, Noda’s objective has been centred around one of our favourite four-letter words: PLAY! To tease, to wink, to arouse the mundane. We do this in the interiors we reimagine and pieces we create. Snagging inspiration from our most treasured destinations. Our tag line is: Made From The World. It speaks for our worldliness brought to life through great craftsmanship.

 

Go on, go check out our portfolio

Come on in!
For many years Noda ran as a design group, but today we add bricks and mortar to our name. The Noda Flagship store is in Toronto, Canada straddling between the design and the financial district, right on 11 King Street East.

Inside is our line of Noda collection, along with unique finds curated and collected from Nora’s travels. To us, this is a living space, where we’ll soon host great talks and events. We plan to be a hub for conversation and creation.

Pop in for a visit

The great tapestry that is our planet, is our greatest muse. This is the story we bring to you. Let our journey begin.

Visiting The Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik Iceland

Visiting The Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik Iceland

By Toronto

Iceland is home to many things… waterfalls, lagoons, and even really, really, realllllly good hotdogs – but did you know, it’s also where you’ll find one of the BEST DESIGNED BUILDINGS IN THE WORLD!

Located in downtown Reykjavik, The Harpa Concert Hall (as it is officially known) is home to the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Icelandic Opera. It has four large halls – the largest can accommodate up to 1800 seats. But it’s size alone isn’t the only reason why you can’t miss it… the envelope of the building is wrapped with 714 uniquely shaped glass panels, each giving off a different colour or shade depending on how the light hits it! It is also the proud winner of the prestigious European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award, the European Commission and the Mies van der Rohe Foundation beating 335 other works from 37 European countries!

The History of The Harpa 

The hall was designed in collaboration with Danish-Icelandic artist Ólafur Elíasson along with his Studio, and the Danish firm Henning Larsen Architects who also built the Opera House in Copenhagen. 

Harpa celebrated its opening with a concert on May 4th, 2011 – but its rise to fame started much earlier.  Construction started in 2007, and at that time the plan was to build an  “Icelandic World Trade Center” complete with hotels and luxury apartments. But then the financial crisis hit in 2008, and deeply impacted the country.  Things got so bad that the project was essentially put on hold and sat half finished. Thankfully Icelandic Government stepped in to save the project and funded it to completion.

According to the Grayline Iceland blog, the hall got its unique name through a public competition:  Over 1,200 residents entered over 4,000 names. The winning name, Harpa, is an Old Icelandic word that refers to a time of year, and it is also a month in the old Nordic calendar, and the first day of the month of ‘Harpa’ as it was known was the first day of summer.

Visiting The Harpa Concert Hall

After crossing waterfalls, and hot-springs from your to-do list, be sure to include a stop at The Harpa.  It’s free to visit, though access to certain areas may be restricted while events are being held. It shouldn’t take more than an hour to see, and offers a warm refuge from the windy Reykjavik streets!

Visiting The Harpa for your first time is much like walking into a giant igloo (much warmer of course)! The sheer size of the place is incredible, and the transparent walls allow for some spectacular views of the bay and mountains in the distance.  The ceilings are capped with reflective mirrors that further distort the sense of space inside the Hall. You’ll be in awe at the architectural and engineering marvel that went into its construction… but if “world-class design” isn’t your thing, there’s also a restaurant and gift shop (complete with furry hats) – as well as guided tours of the Hall.

Prior to visiting Iceland, I had no idea the Harpa even existed.  With all that the country has to offer, visiting “another building” never really registered on the itinerary of things to do – but after seeing it’s beauty first hand, I’d highly recommend it as something everybody should see while in Iceland… below are some of the other sights we took in while on the trip:

 


Feel Good Lane Mural Project in Toronto

By Toronto

Feel Good Lane is located between Atlas and Arlington, half a block north of St. Clair West. The laneway was renamed in memory of Barry Luksenberg. Barry, who went by the MC name of “Feel Good”. The Laneway had it’s garages painted with the help of local street artists.

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