Chronicle - Winter 2009

Q U E B E C C I T Y • M O N T R E A L • T O R O N T O • W I N N I P E G • K I T C H E N E R

WINTER 2009

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Verity’s Queen East spagets a facelift

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ASIAN OBSESSIONKing West’s Spice Routeone of Toronto’s hottestdining destinations

2020Winnipeg’s Cake Clothinggrows itsU.S. reach

PLUS:AutoCAD in Toronto, IndesignFurniture, Kate & Birdie Paper Co., GotStyle fashiontips for men and Kitchener’sTalent Technology

Montreal Web designersPixel Circus

QUEEN STREET EAST, TORONTO / - If you’ve never heard of a Lomi Lomi massage or a BodySong session, you’ve probably not been to Verity’s spa sinceApril. Sweetgrass at Verity, as the spa component of theQueen Street East women’s club is now called, is one of the only places in Toronto to offer these exotic treat-ments, Lomi Lomi being a stylized Hawaiian massageusing deep, flowing strokes, and BodySong a kind ofholistic session combining massagewith other relaxation techniques.

“Lomi Lomi can’t be found any-where else in the city and we wantedto be able to offer a unique andexpanded menu of services to clients,”says Shana Coppen, Verity’s market-ing director, describing Sweetgrass’position in the city’s spa marketplace.

Verity rebranded its spa to give itan identity separate from the club,which is a members-only gathering place for women professionals (while only women can join, the commonareas, meeting rooms and restaurant (George) host menand women alike).

“The spa is still part of Verity, but we changed thename to make it clear to the general public that they cancome and use our services,” says Coppen, adding that anew separate entrance on Queen Street East as well as a

remodeled reception area and expanded change room isall geared to accommodating an increased public clientele.

Verity’s flower shop, sweetgrassflowers, has moved into the front area here where its zinc countertop andfridge double as a bar when the area hosts receptions andproduct launches. For anyone familiar with the relaxedand stylishly appointed spa environs, however, you’ll find the space is much the same.

The ozonated pool still offers anoasis of calm from the downtown hustle and the lounge remains populated with guests in whitebathrobes enjoying cocktails, fruitjuices and herbal teas along with light fare from the kitchen at George.

The only full-service women-onlyspa in Toronto, Sweetgrass offers a range of treatments incorporatingpremium products and innovative,

state-of-the-art techniques – all designed to nurture andsoothe a tired spirit as well as regenerate both mind and body. Beyond the Hawaiian, there’s a variety of techniques including shiatsu, reflexology, reiki, hot stoneand osteo. Body treatments remain a popular mainstayand of course there are those essential services – facials,waxing, threading manicures and pedicures.

sweetgrassspa.ca

COMMUNITY CHRONICLE • 2

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A SPA BY ANY OTHER NAMEVerity’s spa bears the new name Sweetgrass and adds some unique services

A SPA BY ANY OTHER NAMEVerity’s spa bears the new name Sweetgrass and adds some unique services

““The spa is still part ofVerity, but we changedthe name to make it clearto the general public thatthey can come and useour services.”

Quebec’s Kitchen & Curiosity ShopNOUVO ST-ROCH, QUEBEC CITY / - There’s a store on Rue St-Joseph in Nouvo St-Roch where you can buy breathable wineglasses and black table salt. “The salt tastes like sea salt,” offers ÉmilieGougelet, manager of Baltazar, a five-year-old kitchen and curiosityshop that has been a staple in this neighbourhood since the areabegan earning a reputation as a burgeoning shopping district.

Gougelet and her staff do their homework, researching online,attending tradeshows and monitoring media to stay on top of culinary trends as well as stock the latest gadgetry. It’s what hasearned Baltazar, an 3,500-square-foot store on the ground floor of arenovated 100-year-old building, a reputation as the place to gethard-to-find items on the leading edge in kitchen and hosting.

Wine accessories are a big draw (Eisch’s breathable wineglasses are a popular item) but traditional quality cookware like colourful cast-iron Le Cuistot, and a selection of modern tableware organizedby designer, make this an easy place to find a range of functional and fashionable options. There’s also an exotic selection of vinegars,oils (infused with truffles, for example) and salts (black salt fromHawaii and pink salt from Australia).

But not everything here is international. In fact Baltazar workshard to feature as many Quebec-made products as possible: the Raviinstant wine chiller device is one, as are gourmet chocolates fromGenevieve Grandbois and Theobromer.

QUÉBEC

3 • WINTER 2009

Des objets de cuisine qui sortent de l’ordinaire

Des verres à vin respirants, du sel de table noir... des articles insolites mais que vous trouverez dans un magasin de la rue St-Joseph, au Nouvo St-Roch. « Il a le goût du sel de mer » lance Émilie Gougelet,gérante du Baltazar, magasin d’accessoires culinaireset d’objets de décoration originaux, établi il y a cinqans et devenu incontournable depuis que le quartier a pris son envol commercial.

Émilie Gougelet et son équipe dénichent leurstrouvailles sur Internet, dans les salons professionnelset en épluchant les médias afin d’être au courant desdernières tendances culinaires et des gadgets les

plus récents. C’est ainsi que Baltazar,installé dans 3 500 pieds carrés au rez-de-chaussé d’un immeuble centenaire maistotalement rénové, a acquis la réputationd’une boutique où l’on trouve toutes sortesd’accessoires difficiles à trouver et à la pointedu progrès culinaire et de l’art de la table.

Les accessoires pour le vin sont très appré-ciés (notamment les verres respirants deEisch), mais la variété d’articles de qualitéplus traditionnels, comme les casseroles enfonte Le Cuistot, et une sélection d’acces-soires de table présentée par designer, font deBaltazar le lieu idéal pour trouver des objetsfonctionnels ou dernier cri. La boutique pro-pose également une sélection exotique devinaigres, d’huiles (aux truffes par exemple) et de sels (sel noir d’Hawai et sel rosed’Australie).

Mais Baltazar ne fait pas que dans l’inter-national. En fait, le magasin est sans cesse à la recherche de produits québécois à proposer à ses clients : le rafraîchisseur à vininstantané Ravi en est un exemple, commeles chocolats fins de Geneviève Grandbois ou de Theobromer.

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AV DU PARC, MONTRÉAL / - Savoir allier marketing, design conceptuel, ergonomie et ingénierie est le type de compétences qui permet au designer industriel de réaliser des prouesses.

Quand ça fonctionne, on ne remarque rien et c’estseulement quand l’alliance de l’esthétique et du fonctionnel produit un résultat exceptionnel qu’on y prête attention (comparez le Mac et le PC).

C’est justement à ce niveau qu’intervient TAK Design,société de design industriel installée au 6300, avenue du Parc. Fondée il y a trois ans par trois designers auxcompétences très diverses, elle créée toutes sortes de produits : valise, bouchons pour bouteilles en plastique,équipements médicaux et même serveurs hautes tech-nologies par satellite.

DES SPÉCIALISTES AVEC UNE EXPÉRIENCE DIVERSIFIÉE Contrairement à celui qui travaille à l’interne d’une entreprise manufacturière, un designerindépendant doit avoir des compétences extrêmementdiversifiées. Et le champ de ses connaissances s’étend tout au long de sa carrière. En fait, l’éventail de compé-tences de TAK est tellement vaste qu’il en fait presque une société trop généraliste, déclare Daniel Tassé, sonprésident.

« Nous devons ajuster notre portefeuille en fonction de notre interlocuteur. Nous ne voulons pas que nosclients des hautes technologies nous pensent trop spécialisés dans les produits de consommation, et viceversa », explique-t-il.

Mais cette diversité est une qualité essentielle, car undesigner industriel indépendant comme Tak est souventsollicité pour travailler au sein d’une équipe interne dansle but d’apporter un œil extérieur, une perspective non

négligeable qu’il s’agisse de créer des distributrices à eau ou des moniteurs échographiques.

La résolution de problèmes « Les designers industrielssont avant tout des professionnels de l’efficacité », expliqueJo-Philippe Laflamme, vice-président de la firme. Bien que très lié au marketing, le design industriel est né de larévolution industrielle et sa fonction première était, et estencore aujourd’hui, de rendre un produit performant etmanufacturable.

UN MAÎTRE-MOT : L’EFFICACITÉ… « La fabrication d’un moule peut coûter 80 000 $, donc si l’on veut produire 1 000 unités d’un objet, il faut trouver d’autresmanières de les fabriquer », explique Daniel Tassé.

Cela nécessite une excellente compréhension des matériaux et des processus de fabrication et c’est le gros du travail réalisé par son équipe. C’est une activité baséepresque uniquement sur la résolution de problèmescomme le montre un de leurs projets les plus récents.

Une société technologique a mis au point un système électronique destiné aux entreprises de transport qui permet de détecter la somnolence au volant. Ce systèmeest basé sur une série de capteurs optiques à infrarouge qui détecte les mouvements oculaires du conducteur,déclenche une alarme et permet d’alerter un répartiteur en temps réel.

Au départ, ce système fonctionnait parfaitement bien mais avait la taille d’un bottin téléphonique et il ne tenaitpas compte des contraintes de taille du tableau de bordd’un camion. C’est là qu’a commencé le travail de TAK.L’équipe a pensé à l’ergonomie, à l’esthétique et à la fonctionnalité du système pour en faire une petite composante du tableau de bord, de la taille d’un GPS.

takdi.com

STUDIO TAK :le défi du design industriel

Des jouets aux équipements de télécommunication, un designer industriel touche à tout.


Tak Design works on the ergonomics, aesthetics and functionality of everything from luggage and plastic bottle caps to anelectronic device for transportation firms that detects driver sleepiness (pictured top of page).

Combining ergonomics, marketing, and engineering, industrialdesign is the type of profession whose effects are often hidden in plain view. When it works, you don’t tend to notice it, but some-times, when it works well, you can become acutely aware of the fact that someone sat down to think about what this object will look like and how it will perform its task (think Mac versus PC).

That’s what TAK Design’s team at 6300 Avenue du Parc does.The independent industrial design firm, started three years agowhen three principals decided to combine their expertise, works on everything from luggage and plastic bottle caps to high techwireless satellite server systems and medical equipment.

SPECIALISTS WITH DIVERSE EXPERIENCE It’s a massive cross-disciplinary role to be an independent industrialdesigner, as opposed to working in-house for a large manufacturer,and it makes for a career of constant learning. In fact, the Montrealconsultancy’s breadth and depth of experience almost makes itseem too generalist, says president Daniel Tassé.

“We have to edit our portfolio a little depending on who we aretalking to because we don’t want our high tech clients, for example,to think that we were too consumer product oriented, or vice versa,”he says.

But diversity of experience is essential to a third-party designfirm such as TAK, which is often called upon to work with a

company’s in-house designers to bring that important outsider perspective to a range of projects from water coolers to sonar monitors.

A MATTER OF EFFICIENCY Industrial designers are first and foremost efficiency experts, explains the firm’s VP Jo-PhillipeLaflamme. Despite a tight connection to marketing, industrial design was a profession born of the industrial revolution and whose primary function to this day remains being able to sort out a product’s manufacturability.

“Building a mould could cost $80,000 so if you only want tomanufacture 1,000 units of something, you have to come up with other ways to build it,” says Tassé. This involves a keen under-standing of materials and manufacturing processes, and is the bulk of what TAK’s designers, engineers and technicians work on.

It’s a job that centres almost entirely on problem solving as one recently completed project demonstrates.

A tech company developed an electronic device for trans-portation firms to detect driver sleepiness. While it worked well,using infra-red tracking of driver eye movements to trigger alarms, the device was the size of a Montreal phonebook and didn’t fit on a truck dashboard. Enter TAK. They looked at theergonomics, aesthetics and functionality of the device to develop a small dashboard component the size of a GPS unit.

STUDIO TAK: Where form meets functionMontreal industrial designers work on everything from toys to telecom equipment.

MONTRÉAL

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Selection&StyleWith a 14,000-square-foot showroom of bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms andhome offices, King Street East browsers can expect to find something contemporary or modern and tasteful to suit their needs at InDesign Furnishings.

KING ST. EAST, TORONTO / -Given its address, in the heart ofToronto’s King Street East furnituredistrict at 214 King Street East,InDesign Furnishings has had littleneed to advertise.

“People come to the area to shopfor furniture and our two-storeyretail store with 14,000 square feet

is hard to miss, so we get a lot of walk-in traffic,” saysGene Pong, who has worked in the area for seven years,the last four of which as owner of InDesign Furnishings.

Offering a mix of modern and contemporary furniture– all available in a massive range of fabrics (depending onthe piece, you might have between 300 and 500 differentswatches to select from) and most of what you see on thefloor is in stock, so buyers out to furnish a new condoover a weekend can get immediate satisfaction from theirshopping experience.

LARGE-SCALE BOUTIQUE “People don’t really come inhere with the intention of buying a specific thing. It’s the nature of the area, they’re often coming in for ideas,”says Pong, a University of Waterloo math grad whoworked as a controller for a downtown furniture retailerbefore setting out on his own in late 2004.

Despite the size of the two-storey showroom, he triesto keep a boutique feel by offering a number of piecesyou’re not likely to find anywhere else.

The Bradford bedroom suite is made of solid blackcherry wood, whose mineral deposits create beautifulswirls in the grain. And the Judd sofa’s clean line, precise tailoring, and condo size dimensions offer buyersquality craftsmanship, using a sinuous spring suspensionsystem and high-density, high resiliency foam core.What’s more, items like this one are stocked in popularfabrics so buyers can have it delivered in the same week.

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MADE IN NORTH AMERICA Sixty percent of whatPong has on his floor is available immediately. It’s justthe special order fabrics that can take longer. Andprices remain reasonable as a lot of the pieces are private labeled for InDesign. About seventy-five percent of the furniture is made in North America andtwenty percent is of Italian origin.

That means quality control is tight. All sofas havesolid wood frames that are kiln dried to reduce warpingin the wood, and joints are corner blocked for extrastrength and reinforcement, he explains, adding that by using domestic production, buyers have a muchgreater ability to choose fabrics.

To get a better idea of what’s on offer, it’s worthspending a bit of your lunch hour checking it out. The two-storey space usually shows anywhere from 12to 14 bedroom sets, as many as 26 sofa sets, 30 diningrooms and various home office options.

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Crush Winebar and MetivierGallery join forces to produceannual posterTastings, Movie Night, $1 corkage fees and set lunch and dinner menushighlight Crush’s 2009 offeringsKING WEST CENTRAL, TORONTO / - Crush launched its sixth annual poster in November – this time with the helpof King Street West neighbour Nicholas Metiver Gallerywho connected the restaurant with the talents of Torontophotographer Edward Burtynsky for this year’s image. Thelimited edition poster, featuring a cork tree in Portugal,sells for $300 with proceeds going to the Hospital for Sick Children.

“We’d talked about doing a poster together some yearsago,” says Crush owner Jamieson Kerr of the renownedphotographer, “and when he was in Portugal last year hesaw this tree and shot it with us in mind.”

Crush, recently voted one of the top 10 restaurants of2008 by NOW magazine, has a number of tastings, eventsand promotions scheduled for 2009 continuing to establishthe seven-year-old restaurant as an unpretentious go-towine bar whose front of house features a modern pub-likesetting.

The monthly Brown Bag Tastings will start again in lateJanuary as well as Movie Night (on the last Tuesday ofeach month, the front is set up for watching food and winethemed films). Kerr along with sommeliers Eric Gennaroand Marlise Ponzo will continue to fill the wine list with topten picks, but they’ve added an evening tasting componentwhere you can try these wines and meet the wine agents– and even buy selections not available at the LCBO.

For 2009, Crush has also introduced a set $20 lunch and$35 dinner, and on Mondaynights only there’s a $1corkage fee, so you canbring in your best bottle to enjoy with a oneof Crush’s reinvented traditional English dishesmade with farm freshlocal product.

Crushwinebar.com

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Klein home office

Judd sofa

Hampton bed

KATE&BIRDIEBoutique stationery firm in Winnipeg a growing international card maker


EXCHANGE DISTRICT, WINNIPEG / - GloriaWall’s daughter was only nine months old when sheknew she wouldn’t go back to working for someone else. That’s also about the time she picked up her pencilcrayons. Wall had been drawing pretty much sincereceiving a Crayola crayon caddy for her fifth Christmasbut now began scribbling with renewed purpose conjuring animals and streetscapes to entertain herdaughter and personalize her own stationery.

When friends and family began asking for cards andboxed notes, she recognized an opportunity and setabout learning the stationery business. Seeing her firstcards come off the press in 2003, she decided she’d liketo be the next Hallmark. Now, with over 200 differentcards, distribution in six countries, Wall’s Kate & Birdiepaper company, located at 70 Arthur St., has established a firm foothold in the boutique stationery market.

“From the beginning I wanted to build something big,” says Wall,a slight, 30-year-old brunette with a bright disposition and a calmmanner. “I didn’t want it to just bea little hobby. I was starting with an end in mind.”

INSPIRED BY KIDS’ BOOKSDescribed as retro-nostalgic andwhimsical, Wall’s designs have an initial appeal to parents andchildren – given how she was initially inspired by all the children’sbooks she was reading to her daughter – but their elegant style gives them a near universal appeal as tasteful and decorative little art pieces.

Each design starts with a sketch and is then drawnusing Illustrator software (even the background patternssuch as the snowflakes in her holiday collection aredrawn and repeated, rather than using clip art), her collections feature a cast of mostly animal characters and jolly little streetscapes that are in part inspired byher love of film. In fact, the name Kate & Birdie is a reference to Meg Ryan’s bookshop owner in 1998’sYou’ve Got Mail.

LEARNING THE BUSINESS A natural entrepreneur,Wall enjoys the business end of her work almost asmuch as illustration. Good thing, because managing the firm’s growth has pushed her drawing time into theevenings, after a full day of working with her small team (three staff, including her younger sister, and withoccasional help from her older sister) to fill print ordersand organize shipping.

Having worked as a budding interior designer atUrban Barn, she knew a lot about retail but discoveredearly on that stationery retailers are a fickle lot. Whenshe started, she had a few local stores stocking her work,but found that she would have to travel to Toronto todisplay at a trade show in order to gain more street cred.Her first show in 2006 was a tremendous success. She’dinvested $4,000 to be there and hoped modestly to

break even and gain someexposure.

“But that first year, I blewit out of the water and camehome with orders for 25stores across Canada,” shesays. Now she does threetradeshows a year to drum up the bulk of her Canadianbusiness, and has added an international show in New York City to build herglobal exposure.

A GLOBAL REACH “In theU.S. the competition is

pretty fierce. There are a thousand companies like me,”says Wall, but her style, often described as ‘very dear’,stood out enough to be picked up by distributors inBrussels, Switzerland and Mexico.

Beyond a growing collection of box notes and greeting cards, Wall is also putting some of her drawingson canvases, an idea that came from the requeststradeshow attendees made about buying the large-formatcards she’d produced for display purposes.

Reading Good to Great and other business books hashelped hone her focus and she is laying the groundworkfor further expansion with calendars, more prints andthe possibility of working with textile manufacturers to license some designs for fabrics.

“I think moving into décor might be an interestingdirection,” muses Wall. But for now, things are busy asthe tradeshow season moves into full swing.

kateandbirdie.comDIEPAPERCO.

WINNIPEG

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““From the beginning Iwanted to build some-thing big. I didn’t want it to just be a littlehobby. I was starting with an end in mind.”


““Our focus is on design because we comefrom the design side, but our approach is one that includes a rigid adherence tousing the latest technology available”

RUE ATLANTIC, MONTREAL / - In 1998, whenEtienne Bourque-Viens finished his graphic design studies, there was little formal education available on the kind of design that really interested him: Web design.That’s why, in 1999, he made his own internship, settingabout finding work throughout Europe where the use ofthe Web was somewhat more culturally sophisticated.

“I remember when I started working in Denmark, Web firms were already building advanced multi-platformcampaigns including mobiles and it was not rare to find a 100-employee Web agency,” says the 30-year-old presi-dent of Pixel Circus, a seven-year-old going concern inMontreal’s Web design world.

With 1,300 square feet at 400 Rue Atlantic, the five-person firm has carved a niche for itself as a responsiveand creative Web solution provider for companies withhigh end consumer goods as well as organizations in theculture industry.

Among satisfied clients it counts upscale restaurants like Toqué! as well as Librairie Monet, an independentbookstore that needed to update its image, connect with its clients and distinguish itself as more local andcooperative than its larger competitors. Pixel Circusbrought in illustrator Janice Nadeau to create distinctive

images (silhouettes seemingly cut from the pages of abook) to bring the site’s pages to life while it set to work devising a high-end aesthetic with content the clientcould manage on its own, like adding weekly events to itscalendar and regularly updating its new releases section.

“If you give the client the ability to manage aspects of the site themselves, and it’s easy for them to do, they’lldo it,” says Bourque-Viens.

“Our focus is on design because we come from thedesign side, but our approach is one that includes a rigidadherence to using the latest technology available,” saysÉric Férole, the company’s VP of interactive strategies.

To date all of its marketing has been word-of mouth,but now the team hopes to explore opportunities in thedifferent market segments in which it operates, one ofwhich is library science.

“Yes, it’s a small segment, but we have a lot of clients init,” says Férole, citing Bibliotèque et Archives nationalesdu Québec as examples.

Driven by design and eager to grow their offering, PixelCircus also has clients in business consulting, architectureand interior design, education as well as marketing.

pixelcircus.ca

En 1998, lorsque Étienne Bourque-Viens finissait ses études collégialesen graphisme, il n’y avait que peu de formation dans le type de designqui l’intéressait : le design Web. C’est pourquoi en 1999 il a créé sonpropre stage en tentant de trouver du travail en Europe, dans les paysoù l’utilisation du Web était un peu plus avancée.

« Quand j’ai commencé à travailler au Danemark, les spécialistes du Web créaient déjà des campagnes multi-plateformes, y comprisavec le téléphone cellulaire, et les agences de 100 employés n’étaientpas rares » affirme le président de Pixel Circus, firme montréalaise deconception et de réalisation de sites Web, créée il y a sept ans.

Installée dans 1 300 pieds carrés au 400, rue Atlantic, cette agence de cinq personnes propose des solutions Web créatives et flexiblesnotamment aux entreprises vendant des biens de consommation haut de gamme et au secteur culturel.

Parmi ses clients, la Librairie Monet, une librairie indépendante qui souhaitait moderniser son image tout en se positionnant commeune entreprise locale, proche de ses clients et offrant un service pluspersonnalisé que ses concurrents de plus grande taille. En faisant appel à l’illustratrice Janice Nadeau, Pixel Circus a su trouver desimages originales (des silhouettes qui semblent avoir été découpéesdes pages d’un livre) pour réveiller les pages du site tout en créant à la fois un graphisme esthétique et un contenu que le client peut mettre à jour lui-même.

« Si on donne au client la possibilité de gérer lui-même facilementcertaines parties du site, il le fera » affirme Étienne Bourque-Viens enexpliquant que tout le monde y gagne : Pixel Circus est déchargéed’une partie du travail et la librairie est plus autonome, elle sait ajouterles événements hebdomadaires au calendrier et mettre à jour la section des nouveautés.

« Nous sommes particulièrement sensibles au design parce quenous sommes issus de ce domaine, mais notre approche consiste à toujours veiller à utiliser la technologie la plus récente », explique Éric Férole, vice-président des stratégies interactives. Tandis que certains restaurants de choix comme Toqué! apprécient la créativité et l’interactivité du design de Pixel Circus, d’autres clients recherchentses compétences techniques pour ajouter à un site déjà existant denouvelles composantes comme un outil d’infolettres.

Pour l’instant, le marketing de la firme s’est limité au bouche àoreille, mais aujourd’hui l’équipe espère trouver de nouveauxdébouchés dans les segments de marché qu’elle connaît déjà,notamment la bibliothéconomie.

« C’est effectivement un petit secteur, mais il représente une part importante de notre clientèle », déclare Éric Férole en donnant comme exemple Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.

Pixel Circus compte également des clients dans les domaines du conseil aux entreprises, de l’architecture, de la décoration d’intérieur,de l’éducation et du marketing.

Pixel Circus : L’alliance du design et de la technologie

11 • WINTER 2009

MONTRÉALPerformance Art Montreal Web designers Pixel Circus offer a focus on aesthetics with technical savvy to match

KING STREET EAST, TORONTO / - The lobby ofAutodesk’s Toronto offices on King Street East has thetidy look many technology firms have come to adopt for their space.

The front’s glass curtain wall reveals soaring ceilings, an industrial-style steel staircase rising from slate floors, all set against a background of sandblasted brick walls that hint at the building’s heritage character. Despite these impressive aesthetics, it’s a small glass box in thelobby area which tends to pique most visitors’ attention.That’s because it contains the recognizable gold figure of an Oscar.

“When you bring clients into this building, you see[the Oscar], you see movie posters and some screensshowing special effects, and it really helps break downthat barrier that we’re just the ‘AutoCAD company’,” says Kerry Saumur, Manufacturing Sales Development Director.

DIGITAL MODELS TO VISUALIZE IDEAS From buildingsand bridges to machines and movies, Autodesk softwareproducts, of which there are more than 60, are usedmainly to create digital models and workflows so thatusers can visualize their ideas before they become a reality.

The Oscar in the lobby of 210 King Street East wasawarded in 2003 for “Technical Achievement” in thedevelopment of Maya® visualization software. Maya was used recently to create 3D effects in features such as Spider-Man 3 and Pan’s Labyrinth.

For those familiar with the space, it was formerly the headquarters of Alias, the Maya developer (amongother tools) that was acquired in 2006 by Autodesk. Thepurchase broadened Autodesk’s reach into the entertain-ment industry and brought the Canadian team, formerlyheadquartered in Markham, into the downtown core.

Founded 25 years ago in California, Autodesk changedthe world of design by automating drafting with theintroduction of AutoCAD. Today, it estimates more than9 million designers, architects, engineers and digital artists in 160 countries use its products.

LOOKING ‘HOLISTICALLY’ “Autodesk covers a wide spectrum,” says Saumur who has been with the firm for14 years. From architecture and construction to automo-tive, to manufacturing, to multimedia and entertainment,to utilities and telecom, anywhere design and visualizationsoftware can be applied is a marketplace for Autodesk.

“It’s not about working on one specific aspect of a company but looking at an organization holistically,” says Saumur, whose area of expertise is in manufacturing.

If a company were starting a manufacturing facilityfrom the ground up, a number of Autodesk solutionscould be employed, explains Saumur. Autodesk®

Inventor® can create a digital prototype of an assemblyline, while Revit® Architecture can create the buildingmodel to test for efficiency as well as functionality.

AutoCAD® Civil 3D® can help with the land planning,such as determining how much earth must be removed tobuild a road or a foundation, and Autodesk MapGuide®

can examine data concerning the location of the building.

A VIRTUAL REALITY Visualization software allows usersto walk through a virtual building, operate a virtualassembly line and even get behind the wheel of a virtual car.

Building a physical prototype of a car is expensive, saysSaumur, so a lot of visualization software is used in auto-motive development. He adds that images from softwarelike Autodesk® Showcase® often make their way intobrochures and even television ads.

autodesk.com

AutoCAD maker shines beyond design and buildFrom Oscar wins to manufacturing to automobile design, Autodesk’s reach is as broad as its scope.


The highlight of Autodesk’s six floors at 210 King Street East is the second floor’s Viz studio (breakout area pictured left) where four projectors can operatesimultaneously with screens moving into position to form a circular presentation room.

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5 STEPS TO DRESSING BETTER

Toronto’s GotStyle menswear offers guys a feweasy rules to tune your winter wardrobe

13 • WINTER 2009

TORONTO

“We’re not suggesting guys should dress weird or wear tight clothes, says GotStyle owner and chief fashonista Melissa Austria, “we’rejust advocating that you should buy clothes that fit better and that you should keep your style up to date.” GotStyle’s second floor showroom at King and Spadina is organized by grouping coordinating items to make clothes shopping easy for guys daunted by thewhole ’matching’ thing. Austria also offers a few tips to get you started when thinking about updating your look.

1. GET OUT OF THE BOX. A trim, nottight, fit will give you shape so thatyou don’t look like a box. Even if youhave a belly you can still wear amodern cut shirt. Just look for onewith ‘darting’ in the back of the shirt(it takes away the fullness when youtuck it in) but still gives you ampleroom in the front. Since the back istrimmer you end up looking slimmer.“We have guys with 18-inch necksand 40 waists and they can’t believehow much better they look and feelin a modern cut,” says Austria.

5. BLAZING A TRAIL. Blazers come in a range ofstyles (the modern look is trim and shorter)and materials – cord, wool, and cotton toname some – and are a versatile wardrobeitems that can just as easily dress up a T-shirtand jeans, as tone down a collared-shirt anddress pants.

2. NO MORE HANGOUTS. Dress shirtsshould generally be tucked in. It’s abad look when it’s striped and boxyand it’s all hanging out. If you reallywant that look, stick to solids,patterns or checks. But make sureit’s a trim fit and a shorter cut.

4. SWEAT IT. You don’t need many sweaters,just good ones. Try for one V-neck (black,beige or charcoal), one crew neck (stripedor a bold solid), a turtleneck (again black,charcoal or camel) and a cardigan (go forthin and dressy).

gsmen.com

3. RECESSIVE JEANS. If you want towear jeans less often, add some ofthese to your wardrobe: grey woolpants; dressier black pants with atrim, modern fit; a pair of neutralslike khakis; navy or charcoal pin-striped pants that don’t look likebusiness pants; and something witha subtle check or plaid.

KING WEST CENTRAL, TORONTO / - When the Coen Brothers new film Burn After Readingpremiered at the Toronto film festival last fall, nightclubimpresarios Nick DiDonato and Charles Khabouth hadalready lined up their Asian-inspired oasis Spice Route,which opened last Spring at 499 King Street West, to host the party.

“I’ve been doing this for twenty years, and I have tosay that was the best celebrity turnout I’ve ever seen,”says Di Donato, president of Liberty EntertainmentGroup, the firm behind an array of Toronto hot spots,including Rosewater Supper Club, C Lounge and The Liberty Grand.

It’s a relationship thing, says Di Donato about nettingwhat was considered one of the hottest parties of the festival with a guest list that included Brad Pitt, JohnMalkovich and Adrien Brody. “The studios have workedwith us before, they know we know how to handle confidentiality and they also knew we had a new venuein play.”

BUILDING NICHE SPOTS In the hosting industry,restaurants and lounges are subject to cycles of popularity.But as one of the city’s most notable ‘it spot’ developers,Liberty group’s strategy is to build a portfolio of venuesthat are complementary. Rather than cannibalize patronsfrom existing hot spots, says Di Donato, it developsniche spots for specific populations.

In the case of Spice Route, the team had a theme and concept in mind; a modern blend of Thai, Chinese,Indian, Japanese and Indonesian cuisine and décor that would appeal to the 30-plus crowd in finance andcreative industries. They just needed the right space inthe right place.

AUTHENTICITY FROM DÉCOR AND MENU When thisformer Mitsubishi dealership on King Street Westbecame available, Spice Route’s designer, Nadia DiDonato set to work creating an Eastern-inspired urbanoasis concept with a 16-foot waterfall, multiple seatinglevels, and decorated with authentic Asian antiques(including a hand-carved Buddha icon from the 1600s) and large-scale art work by renowned artist and photographer Douglas MacRae (look closely at these – they’re not photos but high-realism, oil-on-silkpaintings).

While executive chef Winlai Wong’s hot rock beefpresentation (beef cooked at the table on a lava rockheated to 400 degrees F), sumptuous Pad Thai andcrispy Tempura calamari and shrimp are solid winners to warm your winter-weary appetite, the locale is at its most festive in the summer when the 3,000-square-foot patio is in full swing.

SUMMER PATIO ONE TO WATCH Tea light candles run the perimeter of this stylish bamboo and concreteoutdoor dining room that extends around the north and east sides of the venue. The comfy divans on concrete benches, a wall of sheltered private booths andoutdoor koi pond are tactfully hidden from the street by paparazzi-thwarting shrubbery. Dripping with atmosphere, the patio is integral to what the team wanted to develop, says Nick Di Donato, explaining that it is truly a component of the venue rather than an afterthought.

Hardly surprising then that it should make TorontoLife’s Best Patios for 2008. And given the line ups lastsummer, it might be advisable to look into reservationsshortly.

spiceroute.ca

GIVE ME LIBERTYLiberty Group’s Asian obsession makes Spice Route one of T.O.’s busiest dining destinations

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CITE MULTIMÉDIA, MONTRÉAL / - Quand on sait que la moitié de la population mondiale est regroupée dansdes villes couvrant ensemble moins de trois pour cent de la surface terrestre, on peut voir nos problèmes d’environ-nement comme étant un défi industriel. C’est en tout cas ce qui occupe Veolia Environnement, une multinationalefrançaise qui oeuvre dans les domaines des transports, de l’énergie, de la gestion des déchets et de l’eau.

Pour une multinationale de cette envergure, ayant investidans des infrastructures à l’échelle mondi-ale, la gestion des biens représente un réelenjeu. Depuis 16 ans, son incinérateur deMacao met à profit un logiciel créé auQuébec conçu pour prévoir les activitésd’entretien de l’usine, faire l’inventaire despièces de rechange, planifier les coupuresd’activité et anticiper réparations etéventuels remplacements.

C’est ce même logiciel qui permet auxhôpitaux du Québec de planifier l’entretien régulier de leurmatériel et à Hydro Québec de gérer l’entretien préventif deson réseau sur les Îles de la Madeleine. Bientôt les locatairesde la Cité Multimédia en profiteront également poureffectuer des demandes de services en ligne sur le site d’ Allied Properties REIT, propriétaire et gérant de la Cité.

« C’est en fait un logiciel qui permet d’optimiser le calendrierd’entretien du matériel pour réduire les coûts », expliqueXavier Bonifay, expatrié français qui a fondé IFCS en 1993avec l’idée de créer des méthodes et des logiciels d’automatisa-tion et d’optimisation de l’entretien du matériel technique.

« L’utilisation d’un outil informatique comme celui-ci force les entreprises, qui opèrent en mode réactif, à planifierdavantage », affirme-t-il en ajoutant qu’une fois le systèmemis en place, ses clients utilisent le logiciel Senergy pour calculer les futurs coûts d’entretien ou de remplacement d’unbien – un outil particulièrement intéressant pour l’industriemanufacturière.

Si l’industrie manufacturière constitue une large part de laclientèle d’IFCS, le secteur de l’immobilier gagne du terrain.

« Il y a cinq ans, explique Xavier Bonifay, rares étaient lesgérants d’immeubles équipés de logiciels de gestion de biensimmobiliers. « Par le passé, l’entretien était considéré commeune dépense, mais aujourd’hui les propriétaires d’immeublespar besoin d’optimisation et par respect pour l’environnementsont obligés de faire plus en dépensant moins. »

IFCS s’est développée en Amérique du Nord et comptemaintenant des clients dans lesecteur public, notamment dans les domaines de la santé et de l’éducation au Québec.

« Dans les hôpitaux, expliqueXavier Bonifay, la gestion des bienss’applique aux bâtiments mais aussiau matériel et à tout ce qui touchedirectement aux patients – lits,

tomodensitomètres, défibrillateurs, autant d’instruments àgérer avec précaution. »

Dans le domaine de l’éducation, les universités ont beaucoup d’infrastructures vétustes dont elles doivent gérersoigneusement les coûts. Certaines d’entre elles permettent àleurs étudiants ingénieurs d’avoir un accès à la version deSenergy créée pour leur établissement, même s’il n’est quelimité, pour apprendre les rouages de la gestion de biens.

Mais le marché québécois ne représente qu’une petite partiedes activités d’IFCS, qui œuvre principalement en Asie, enEurope et en Amérique du Sud.

« C’est étrange mais nous sommes une des rares entreprisesde logiciels à développer nos produits au Québec et à lesexporter en Asie », déclare Xavier Bonifay en ajoutant que le Québec est une grande source de talent et un excellent laboratoire de développement.

IFCS : l’entretien industriel planifiéUn logiciel qui rationalise la gestion des biens dans le secteur industriel


“« C’est étrange mais noussommes une des rares entreprisesde logiciels à développer nos produits au Québec et à lesexporter en Asie. »

CITE MULTIMEDIA, MONTREAL / - With half the world’s populationliving in cities that take up less than three percent of the earth, it’seasy to see the environment as an industrial challenge. That’s theperspective offered by Veolia Environnement, a multinationalFrench company with activities in water and waste management,energy and transport services.

To a multinational like this, with billions invested in infrastruc-ture around the world, a key industrial challenge is asset manage-ment. For 16 years now, its Macau incineration facility, part of itsinternational waste management responsibilities, has been usingQuebec-made software specially designed to schedule ongoingmaintenance activities, inventory spare parts, plan shut downs aswell as anticipate repairs and ultimately replacement.

The same software also helps Quebec hospitals monitor regu-larly scheduled maintenance on patient equipment, helps HydroQuebec manage preventative maintenance of its network in Iles de la Madeleine, and soon will allow Cite Multimedia tenants torequest services online from Allied Properties REIT, the Cite’sowner/manager.

“It basically optimizes maintenance to reduce costs,” says thesoftware firm’s founder Xavier Bonifay, a French expatriate whofounded IFCS in 1993 to develop software and methodologies forautomation or optimization of corporate maintenance.

“Some industries tend to operate in a reactive mode, but usinga tool like this forces companies to plan,” he says explaining thatonce implemented, clients use Senergy software (now growing its‘service-as-software’ offering) to calculate future costs of main-taining or replacing an asset - a particularly valuable feature formanufacturing clients. But real estate has also become a growingpart of the Cite Multimedia-based firm’s focus.

About five years ago, says Bonifay, there were only a handful offacility managers equipped with software to manage real estateassets. "Because in the past," says Bonifay, "maintenance wasconsidered an expense, but now with the need for optimization andgrowing environmental concerns, property owners need to spendless and do more.”

IFCS developed its facility management expertise in NorthAmerica and has since expanded to include public sector clients inhealth and education facilities in Quebec, but these are just a smallpart of IFCS’s reach, with most of its activities concentrated in Asia,Europe and South America.

“It’s strange but we are one of the few software companies tocreate in Quebec and export to Asia,” he says, adding that Quebecis a great laboratory for development and for access to talent.

ifcs-tech.com

MONTRÉAL

17 • WINTER 2009

Montreal’s IFCS software streamlines asset management tomeet challenges of industrial maintenance

IFCS president Xavier Bonifay with a ‘boxed’ Synergy solution.

VICTORIA STREET, KITCHENER / - When anAustralian tourism board launched a search for a caretakerto live in and blog about the islands of the Great BarrierReef, some 200,000 applicants crashed the web site early in January for a competition that wouldn’t close until late February.

“Emailed resumes and resumes submitted via websiteshave made the response to any position much higher than it was in the past,” says Rick Barfoot, senior directorof services at Talent Technology, a leading provider ofrecruiting technologies for the recruiting/staffing industryand corporate HR departments, with an office at 72 Victoria in Kitchener.

The days of the paper resume are mostly gone, he says,adding that certainly for white collar positions, email and the web account for 90 percent of the submission methods.

In the late 1990s, managing the onslaught of responsesto job postings often fell to a handful of HR staffers insmall to medium-sized companies. It was at about this time that Talent Technology began providing its HireDeskand Resume Mirror software solutions. These tools couldnot only track applicants throughout the hiring process(knowing who has been called and who is scheduled forinterviews, for example), but also comb through the massof information to sort the qualified from the less qualified.

The Resume Mirror software is used by several leadingjob boards to make it easy for applicants to fill out infor-mation in a way that is useful to HR users. For example,Reed in the UK, as well as Workoplis in Canada, provide a resume posting function that is powered by software from Talent Technology.

Founded in 1999, Richmond B.C.-based TalentTechnology is the company behind both the HireDeskand Resume Mirror product lines, the latter being thefocus of the activity for the team of ten that works in theKitchener office. In fact, it still says Resume Mirror on the door, remarks Barfoot, adding that it just hasn't beenchanged because this is mostly where development workgoes on for that product.

In 2001, HireDesk Inc. acquired the firm that wouldlater develop Resume Mirror to strengthen its position inresume extraction technology. Both HireDesk and ResumeMirror amalgamated into Talent Technology in 2006 toimprove synergy and reduce some of the redundancies(two offices in Richmond, for example).

Talent Technology splits its clients into two groups: therecruiting market, where key recruiting solution providerslike Oracle, Taleo, ADP Virtual Edge, and Workopolispartner with the company to offer clients advancedrecruiting capabilities; and the corporate market, wherehundreds of organizations ranging from Fortune 1000firms to mid-sized and smaller independents need softwareto automate, improve and better manage their sourcing,recruiting and hiring processes.

As for the Kitchener arm of this national organization,they have logged seven years at this location and havemade an investment to remain in the area.

“We hire locally and as a technical centre, this is a goodplace to be,” says Barfoot, adding that there's still a lot of competition for talent in the area. But with the right hiring technology, it shouldn’t be too difficult to identify a qualified candidate when the need arises.

Talenttech.com

Talent Management Email made resumes easy to send out. Now this Kitchener software teammakes it easy to manage the tide of electronic CVs every job posting prompts.

KITC

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Top 10 ways to maintain your new year’s fitness resolution by Tim Irvine

In January, it’s easy to get exercising with renewed vigour,but staying motivated is always a challenge. Here are a few tips to help you start, and more importantly, maintain a program.

1. Make a plan. If you don’t have a trainer, set attainable goals for March or April. Break these main goals into smaller weekly goals (like doing some form of exercise fiveto six days a week). But be realistic. Don’t set yourself upfor failure before you start.

2. Change your routine. A professional trainer will tell you that the program you’ve been on for the last year lost itseffectiveness after week six. Change it up.

3. Partner up. By working out with a partner, you becomeresponsible to them and increase your chances for success.Besides, it’s more social and so, more fun.

4. Share your goals. The more people you share them with,the more accountable you become for reaching your goals.

5. Join a league or organized program.

6. Distract yourself. If working out seems too much like torture, try watching a favourite TV show while riding theexercise bike, or listen to a book or music on your iPod.

7. Try something new. Bored with the same old cardio? Try a fun fitness class, it’ll break the rut and give you agood workout. Your body will thank you, too, as you give it some new challenges!

8. Don’t try to beat the cold. Join it. There are plenty of greatwinter activities you can enjoy, many of which take you outof the city and into nature, a double win.

9. Schedule it. Set aside a specific block of time that no onecan interrupt. Find the time of day that works best for you,and make it a priority for yourself.

10. Have fun. Find an activity you enjoy. It’ll help you stickwith it.

Tim Irvine is president, co-founder and a personal trainer atTotum Life Science, and for the last 20 Januaries, he hashelped hundreds of clients take that New Year’s resolution and turn it into a long-term healthy lifestyle.

TOTUM TIPS

Spend your Lunch Money Day at the Calphalon Culinary CenterThe Calphalon Culinary Center at 425 King Street West (at Spadina) isfighting hunger in our community by hosting a $5 Pasta and Salad Lunchon Thursday, February 26th from 12-2pm.

The $5 you pay for your gourmet lunch goes directly to Second Harvest.

This marks Second Harvest’s 11th annual Lunch Money Day campaign,and we hope we can count on your support again this year.

www.lunchmoneyday.com | www.secondharvest.ca | www.CalphalonCulinaryCenter.com

F I G H T H U N G E R O N F E B R U A R Y 2 6 T H

SWEETSUCCESSWinnipeg’s Cake Clothing moves to bigger space with larger collection and growing international recognition

COMMUNITY CHRONICLE • WINTER 2009 www.alliedpropertiesreit.com

Send your company info, events and story ideas to [email protected]

EXCHANGE DISTRICT, WINNIPEG / -Rebecca McCormack worked for severalyears in advertising and marketing, butluckily for fashion-forward Winnipeggers, it didn’t take.

“I just really had to work for myself,”says McCormack, owner of Cake Clothing, admitting that being let go from her last job also helped kick start her entrepreneurial debut.

But now she appears to have found her calling, collecting the EmergingEntrepreneur for Western Canada awardshortly after opening her small boutique incity’s Exchange District (Cake also pickedup an “Excellence in the Exchange awardsix months after opening) in 2003, and this past August upgrading to larger spaceup the street at 264 McDermot.

The new space features soaring 20-foot ceilings, bright 12-foot windows and a 1,100-square-foot floor plate in which to run both the retail and wholesale sides of her growing business.

The retail will take up the front part of the space while the online and wholesale will fill the back of house. Up front is also a cozy light-filled roomwhere McCormack can continue to design Cake fashions.

Currently, she designs a 30-piece dress collections each season, drawing inspiration from current and trends vintage

“It’s a lot of work and a lot of trial and error,” she says explaining that beyond coming up with new designs, she must also refine best sellers and try to figure out why some styles sell over others.

Her fashion sense hasn’t gone unnoticed by big retailers. Cake dresses are sold in 40 Canadian stores and this January the line in moving into the U.S. market.

With a design background, McComack, 36, says her previous work as a graphic designer certainly helped her learn design and color theory, but her fashion sense came from working for Holt Renfrew and other prestigiousretailers on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.

Cake is known primarily for its dresses. Designed by McCormack and Lauren Wiebe, all its offerings are available for individual sale or wholesale. Herattention to detail and knowledge of current trends in reflected in each dress.

The store also features a selection of sophisticated tops and blouses, as well as cashmere sweaters, and some great fitting, versatile denim. Coats are also part of the repertoire. High neck wool numbers and fitted down coats with beltedwaists are just a few of the fabulous options. Check out Cake’s latest collectiononline or in person.

cakeclothing.ca

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