Design Exchange
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| Established | 1994 |
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| Location | 234 Bay Street, Toronto, Canada |
| Coordinates | 43°38′52″N 79°22′48″W / 43.647909°N 79.380065°W |
| Type | Design, Art Museum and Education Centre |
| Visitors | 225 000 + |
| President | Shauna Levy |
| Curator | Sara Nickleson |
| Public transit access | |
| Website | dx.org |
Design Exchange (DX) is a non-profit design museum located in the historic Toronto Stock Exchange building.[1] The DX hosts exhibitions, competitions and educational programming related to the pursuit of design excellence and preservation of design heritage. The DX also contains the permanent collection of Canadian Industrial Design and is home to the Clairtone archives, Fred Moffat archives and Thomas Lamb archives.
History
In the 1980s, fuelled by closing of the federal agency, Design Canada, in 1985, followed by the University of Toronto's (soon rescinded) announcement in 1986 that it intended to close its school of architecture, members of the design community began to express the need for a focus for Canadian design.
In 1983 the Toronto Stock Exchange had abandoned its historic home of the last 46 years at 234 Bay Street. Olympic & York (O&Y) purchased the building which was designated a heritage property.[2][3] In return for the air rights to build an office tower on the site, O&Y agreed to retain and restore the building.
O&Y commissioned a study to consider the idea of using the trading floor as a public facility. The study indicated that Toronto designers would support a cultural design centre. In January 1986, a group of designers organized an event to lobby Toronto City Hall in support of the initiative. City officials recognized a body of ten citizens as the "The Group for the Creation of a Design Centre in Toronto", which was incorporated on February 6, 1987 an came to be known as the Design Exchange).
At the prompting of the citizens' group, city staff funded a study which determined that a design centre in the old Toronto Stock Exchange "was both possible and desirable." [4]
In 1986, O&Y sold the Bay Street property to Cadillac Fairview and The Toronto Dominion Bank (Toronto-Dominion Centre West Limited), conditional on the design centre concept being retained. The new owner was also required to provide $500,000 to the City for 25 years, which would in turn would be passed along (minus a 10% holdback) onto the design centre to offset operating costs. This agreement, in effect, gave the Design Exchange operating rights in the historic building.
In 1988 the design centre was named the Design Exchange and the original citizens' group was made the founding board. The group established a Board of Management (which included the founding board and citizens and a couple of city councillors). Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects was commissioned to renovate and enlarge the non-heritage-designated spaces (exhibition spaces, administrative office space, the resource centre and meeting rooms).
In 1988 the Group for the Creation of a Design Centre in Toronto began a capital campaign drive aimed at raising funds from the private and public sectors. In 1993, after years of lobbying, the federal and provincial governments confirmed funding for capital expenses in the sum of $6.3 million. In 1994 The Group became the sub-tenant with a long-term lease until 2091. On September 21, 1994 the Design Exchange was officially opened by Prime Minister, The Right Honourable Jean Chrétien.
In 1996 the Design Exchange set a mandate for its permanent collection: to collect the best Canadian materials designed since 1945. In 2015 the collection contains 150 items.
Design Exchange has mounted more than 400 exhibitions, organized hundreds of seminars, lectures, international conferences and educational programs and publications related to the role of design in culture, industry and business.
In March, 2012 the Design Exchange came under the directorship of Shauna Levy, and beganto operate exclusively as a Design Museum. Exhibits and events since then have included design elements from the National Ballet of Canada, the works of graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister, a retrospective of the work of French shoe designer Christian Louboutin, a display of fashion items from the Hermes design house, a social history of women's undergarments, examples of designer toys, and a perspective of the effect of 3D printing on design.[5] A sport fashion exhibit coincided with the Pan Am Games in 2015.[6]
Affiliations
The Museum is affiliated with: Canadian Museums Association, Canadian Heritage Information Network and Virtual Museum of Canada.
References
- ↑ "Design Exchange puts A-list on the auction block: Style Czar". Toronto Star, Karen von Hahn May 19 2015
- ↑ "234 Bay St.". Heritage Property Detail. City of Toronto. 20 Jun 1973. Retrieved August 2012.
- ↑ "TO DESIGNATE THE PROPERTY AT NO. 232 BAY STREET OF ARCHITECTURAL VALUE AND OF HISTORIC INTEREST.". By-law 1978-0570. City of Toronto. 14 August 1978. Retrieved August 2012.
- ↑ [Lord Cultural Resources Planning and Management Inc., "Design Centre Feasibility Study" (Toronto: report prepared for City of Toronto Economic Development Committee, 1987)].
- ↑ Proteau, Adam. "Raising capital at the Design Exchange", Toronto Star, January 16, 2016.
- ↑ "Sport and fashion collide at new Design Exchange exhibition". Toronto Star, Karen von Hahn Jul 14 2015
External links
Media related to Design Exchange at Wikimedia Commons
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