The Interior Design Show, held every year at the end of January for four days, mounted an intriguing edition this year and enlightened our imaginations during the heart of winter’s bleakness. It positioned the show floor as a laboratory—using space itself as a medium for inquiry rather than a backdrop for display.
“IDS has always been about creating a platform for ideas, not just products,” said Will Sorrell, National Director, IDS Canada. “This year we leaned into experimentation—inviting designers, brands and visitors to experience design as a living discipline and to test new ways of thinking about space, materials, and how we come together. Even in the snow, the energy on the show floor was extraordinary.”
We moved through surreal environments that explored urgent cultural questions: what the workplace means as boundaries between office, home, and hospitality dissolve; how quality and longevity in furniture are being redefined amid material reckoning; and how light is increasingly becoming architecture itself. Today, those three environments exist in many homes, including mine.
After one stroll through the isles and displays in the vast Convention Center, I returned home, my brain bursting with ideas of how to totally reinvent my space, using the concepts and materials I had seen at the show that day. I returned two days later with a tape measure and a plan.
I revisited Field of Interaction, an immersive landscape by Artist/Designers Yury Goncharov and Alina Tacmelova that converges art, design, and human presence into a single living organism, forming a collective space for engagement and exchange. Thin vertical threads shape airy petal-like structures, each symbolizing the fragility and necessity of human connection. On both sides beneath the petal structures are the Embrace of the Dune armchairs. Their forms recall sand dunes—visually soft yet structurally solid.
The project is crafted entirely from eco-friendly materials, including cotton cords, recycled polystyrene, and metal tubing, employing sustainable technologies throughout its construction.
We wanted to create a collective space that brings together people of different perspectives and styles, encouraging dialogue, interaction, and the exchange of ideas,” say Yury Goncharov and Alina Tacmelova.
This armchair called out to me, “take me home, please.”
Having realized during my first visit, that I was still stuck in the “white walls in the bathroom concept,” I went to revisit the wild and wonderful wall coverings at Wallpaper Online. That led me to check out Prototype, which showcases conceptual works and in-development products that push the boundaries of contemporary practice. Together, these platforms highlight IDS’s role in championing emerging talent and advancing the future of design through experimentation and craftsmanship.
The lush sofas that turn into sleepers at night, are a necessity for people with extended families. I love the grey plush velvet with yellow pillows which hold a Duvet and bedding. There is a return to sectionals, sofas that can stay as one large piece, or can become a group of seating areas. And of course, there is aways the Montauk Sofa that can comfortably seat a whole baseball team.
One of the brilliant design elements is a banister that not only provides a security railing, but also offers an extraordinary art piece that changes as you walk through the room, where the flow of the interior design is, now, not intruded on by a staircase. If only I had a staircase now.
It took two days, but thanks to the intelligent designs and decorating ideas I saw at the IDS show, I have totally re-arranged my living room to fit the 2026 mood.
For information about the Interior Design Show in 2027, go to: interiordesignshow.com/toronto/