I apologize for the delay in getting this post up, but here it is!The weekend of June 26th-28th was the first ever Canadian designer sample sale. It boasted over twenty five known Canadian designers in the Burroughs building (639 Queen st W)
Shoppers were chilling out to the sounds of DJ Roland Csach who blessed us with an eclectic mix of reggae, soul, oldies, electro and more. I really don't even know how to classify some of the music he was playing, but it was a relief to hear something other than the usual. I was working the door for Saturday and Sunday of the sale since I was helping out Michelle Turpin of Karamea (see previous post for more on her work) and got to wear some of her clothing. It was a lot of fun getting people to come inside, and despite the gloomy weather on Sunday there was a great response.
There was a vast array of belts (Susanna Erazo and Cha Cha), Jewellery, (Biko and our friends at Psalms jewelery to name a few), of course Michelle Turpin of Karamea, Desperately Different by Katya Revenko,
popular names such as Evan Biddell, Lucian Matisse, Philip Sparks and Joeffer Caoc. Some of the designers that really caught my eye however were the girls from Las Valentias who had a great, modern, classy yet slightly edgy look to them.
Biko-Hand-crafted jewellery
My mom made that - a unique new line that features dresses reconstructed from old vintage pieces
and finally, a line of hand-crafted leather bags and clutches from designer Jessica Jenson.
The prices were a fraction of the regular price, and despite my efforts to not spend money, I
gave in and bought a necklace from Biko that I absolutely LOVE.
A special treat was that a majority of the designers were personally there, allowing for networking and a chance to actually talk to the creators. Nancy Rosa of My mom made that was very personable, as was Corrine Anestopoulos of Biko designs.
I talked to her for a good half an hour just discussing starting a small business on your own, the joy of entrepreneurship and about Ryerson. I love that I can talk to designers that are doing what I plan on doing in the very near future-creating their own business from scratch.
Plan on visiting the Canadian Designer Sample sale very soon because this was the first (fingers crossed) of more to come! I will keep you posted on events like this in the future, and hopefully with some warning so you all can come visit this truly incredible event!
Michelle and I in front of her section; both wearing Karamea.
Andrea G.
