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What to see at the Toronto Interior Design Show 2020

January 16-19 at the Metro Convention Centre

2020 IDS features products, furniture, concept home, top designers, conference, classes and more

Now in its 22nd year, the single-most import interior design event of the year and Canada’s largest design exposition and conference, the Interior Design Show (IDS20), returns to Toronto with a future-forward vision for 2020.

IDS20/20 brings together global minds, leading designers, makers, changers, shapers and dreamers of today who are creating the new worlds of tomorrow. It is seen as Canada’s premier showcase of new products, furniture, superstar designers and avant-garde concepts catering to trade construction, design professionals and design-savvy consumers.

The show takes place January 16-19, 2020 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. “For over 20 years, IDS has been both a catalyst and authority for Canadian design,” says Karen Kang, National Director, IDS Canada. “During the past two decades, we have witnessed a lot of change. Yesterday’s designer has become today’s problem solver and tomorrow’s visionary. This year’s IDS 20/20 theme will explore how designers now create experiences at the intersection of technological and social problems, imagining new roads to alternative realities.”

IDS Contract – trade expo

IDS Contract Trade Days, first introduced at the 2019 show, will continue in 2020 on Thursday and Friday. New this year, Trade Day attendees will also benefit from full access to the IDS Main exhibit hall. IDS Contract brings an additional 100+ exhibitors and several new feature areas aimed at B2B trade professionals. Along with IDS Contract is IDS Conference, a series of 65+ sessions including keynote speakers, fireside chats, seminars and workshops. The 2020 installment will explore the business of design, the future of work, the future of living and technology

IDS20 Concept House

This year’s IDS Concept Home is a multisensory experience of the future of living and an exploration of the role that our homes can play in improving our overall wellbeing. Blending theories of spatial perception and human wellness, Hummingbird Hill Homes, VFA Architecture + Design and Victoria Taylor Landscape Architect bring you the RESET Home; a space that transcends contemporary design to reset the way we perceive, interpret, experience and thrive within our living habitats. The fully realised space will allow IDS20 guests to walk through the home and explore how materials, textures, sounds, scents and light affect the five senses, mind and body, impacting the way we live and interact within the private sanctuary of our home.

Keynote Conference Speakers

This year’s speakers include:

Frida Escobedo, a Mexican architect and designer for the Dezeen Trade Talks on Thursday, January 16th Escobedo is known for her focus largely on the reactivation of urban spaces that are considered to be residual or forgotten, through projects that range from housing and community centres, hotels, galleries and public art installations. In addition to her practice, Escobedo has taught at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and during spring 2019 was a visiting professor at RICE University. She is currently teaching at Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Francis Kéré is a keynote conference speaker for the AZURE Trade Talks on Friday, January 17th. Kéré has garnered critical praise from the beginning of his architectural practice when awarded the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture (2004) for his first ever building – a primary school he designed, raised the funds for and realised in collaboration with the residents of his native Gando, Burkina Faso. Kéré is regarded as one of the most distinguished contemporary architects thanks to his pioneering of a communal approach to design and his commitment to sustainable materials and modes of construction.

Yves Béhar is a San Francisco-based Swiss designer, entrepreneur and humanitarianist and this year’s International Guest of Honour. Recognised for advocating the value of design in business, Yves Béhar is the founder and chief designer of fuseproject, a multidisciplinary industrial design and branding firm; co-founder of August Home, the leading provider of smart locks and smart home services; and co-founder of Canopy, a boutique co-working enterprise. Béhar believes that integrated product, digital, experience design and brand design are the cornerstones of any business. He has collaborated with renowned partners such as Herman Miller, Movado, Samsung, Puma, Issey Miyake, Prada, SodaStream, Swarovski, Canal+, Nivea and many others, receiving international acclaim.

Bethan Laura Wood is a multidisciplinary British designer known for her material investigation, artisan collaboration and avant-garde approach to colour, pattern and materiality. Wood explores the relationships we make with objects in our everyday lives and questions how they became cultural conduits. She has undertaken multiple residency programmes, including London’s Design Museum and the W Hotel in Mexico City. Wood has worked ongoing with the Nilufar Gallery since 2011 and has had her work commissioned by Moroso, Valextra, Perrier
Jouet, Bitossi Ceramiche, Tory Burch, cc-tapis, Tolix, Rosenthal and Hermes, among others. Her work has been exhibited in museums around the world including, V&A Museum of Childhood, Swiss Institute New York, Daelim Museum and MOT, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo.