News

MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR

80 Ossington Ave., Toronto, 416-533-6684, http://www.ministryoftheinterior.net.

A new governmental office has opened on the ever hipper strip of Ossington below Dundas. Unlike most bureaucratic buildings, it's got a neon yellow façade.

Needless to say, it's hard to miss. Which is good news for everyone who, assimilated by the Style at Home magazine Borg, decorated their homes to look like a mid-1990s boutique hotel and now have living rooms that are shrieking, "Give me freedom or give me death!"

Perhaps a chair that looks like it's covered in duct tape would suffice?

"I was looking around this neighbourhood and there are all these art galleries but not really a fun design store that caters to people who buy really crazy sculptures," says Jason MacIsaac, the brains behind the newly opened Ministry of the Interior.

MacIsaac has transformed an autobody shop into a 2,000-square-foot half store/half gallery filled with small-run objets, housewares and decor items that ooze quirky cool.

Looking for an unusual gift? Try strangely cool bowls that appear to have been crafted from bananas covered in metallic gold paint ($438). Want to add some juice to a home office? Exclusive, vintage-looking desk lamps from Jieldé (from $382) in hot pink, fluorescent yellow or acid green will do the trick. Someone paint your loft lavender? Freak out with a stunning graphic wallpaper from Tres Tintas: Choose from pop print, graffiti-inspired looks and limited-edition, artist-designed selections.

Redoing interiors in unusual ways comes naturally to MacIsaac, who in his previous incarnations has been a photographer, a performance artist and an art director for films and videos. "In film, you have to do things on the fly, like make some weird bed out of spandex," he says, "so I was into making furniture. I'm looking at this store as a gallery more than a store. The idea of sitting behind a counter just waiting for customers to come kind of depresses me."

MacIssac opened the gallery space with a bang: a visiting exhibition (running until Sept. 15) from Jason Miller, a Brooklyn-based designer with the Areaware collective. Named best breakthrough designer by Wallpaper magazine, his work has been featured in numerous publications, including Dwell, I.D. Magazine and The New York Times. You know those massive antler chandeliers you've seen everywhere. They're his and, yes, they're here.

"The thing about all the small design stores," says Miller, who was in Toronto for the opening, "is they have to find their niche. It's only Ministry's second day, but I think they will."

The exhibit, titled Everything's Amiss, also features Miller's Crayola-coloured "I Was Here" tables inscribed with graffiti that Miller photographed around New York ($500 for a side table, $1,875 for a dining table). "This one's my favourite" he says with a laugh. "Bich. Spelled wrong."

And no avant-garde rec room would be complete without Miller's duct-tape chairs (new chairs that look like they are patched with duct tape, which is actually leather, $5,300 and up), some "dusty" tables ($2,360) or a Beautifully Broken, a mirror appears to be held together with Scotch tape ($1,113).

"The idea here is to make a perfect version of an imperfect thing," he says.

If a $5,000 chair is a little rich, keep hunting. With more affordable bedding, kitchenware and wall art in the main space, every Ikea-weary shopper should be able to find something.

"It's like coal going into a diamond," MacIsaac says. "Every little item counts."