Like the jewellery and the high-style fashion items found within its walls, Basia Polowska's fashion boutique is full of personality. And like any worthy accessory, it makes everything around it look more swish: Suddenly, the shoe-repair shop next door is vintage-chic, the little chocolate boutique beside that, irresistible; and the neighbouring pet-food store the perfect place to pick up a treat for Fifi.
The simply named Basia (416-977-7031, basiadesign.com) is a clean polished box, all glossy concrete floors and glistening white walls. No wonder the summery hats, dangling beads and sorbet-coloured tunics in the window stop so many passersby in their tracks.
"I've had women come in and say, 'Thank you, thank you,' " Polowska says. "They felt like they were somewhere in New York or London. A little bit of SoHo had just come to their Annex neighbourhood in Toronto. Some people were just a little surprised."
The interior-designer-turned-jeweller opened up the 2,000-square-foot boutique a few months ago, and although the fashion assortment is going great guns, there's more to come. Plans are in the works to add a home-decor shop-in-shop at the back of the 161 Dupont St. address. In that nook, Polowska plans to display her own contemporary lined crystal chandeliers along with paintings, sculpture and porcelain tableware by Quebec artist Louise Bousquet.
"I concentrate on carrying Canadian," the retailer says, "although not exclusively so. What I will carry in the store will be work by designers that is new and fresh and has a great sense of design."
Shoppers will find much to sate their fashion appetites. Under glass sits the designer's signature jewellery collection. Hers are striking and oft-times multifunctional pieces: One long crystal-laden necklace can be worn as a cascade of Swarovski glitter at the neckline, dangling down the back, or as a belt. There are bold pendants of turquoise and amber, and delicate chains of Smartie-shaped discs of mother-of-pearl. Prices start at $110, and run up to $2,000 for more elaborate, couture pieces. And while the focus is on semiprecious stone, glass and crystal, knockout metal-chain pieces in 14- and 18-karat gold are just the thing for a little autumnal indulgence.
To complement the jewellery, Polowska has carefully selected other bold but feminine fashion pieces: butter-soft leather bags in unexpected colours such as pistachio or scarlet (from $300); striking, sculptural hats under the Reinhard Plank label ($200-$300), and deconstructed silk tops, scarves and skirts -- and fur accessories for fall -- by Montreal's Véronique Miljkovitch ($150-$250; miljkovitch.com).
"It's very much a gallery setting, light and ethereal," she says of the space.
Polowska worked for more than 10 years as an interior designer with various Fortune 500 companies before launching her current career as a jeweller. And she articulates her mission in the vernacular of that past life. "I try to have things cleanly organized so the eye travels," she says. "There should be a sense of serenity but excitement at the same time so that the fashion and the home pieces stand out."
Having one-on-one contact with the customer has also affected the creative process, says the designer, whose atelier-workshop is on the second floor. "You see the response the product has on the client. It's a very emotional thing. And I think the customer needs to see your passion. It doesn't matter what it is, a painting or fashion, if it's good design, the customer might not be able to articulate it, but immediately they know it's good. It feels good."