Love for One of A Kind

The One of a Kind Show is a must for me twice a year. Spring and Fall, I never miss it! As you may have seen from some other fantastic Toronto bloggers, last Thursday was the media preview breakfast for the One of a Kind Show here in the city. It was a great way to get in there and check out some of the 800+ talented artisians before the place got really jammed (which we all know it does!).

I started the morning off wandering around with a few others, snapping some pictures of the beautiful set up.

Afterwards, we sat down to a delicious breakfast cooked up by the students of George Brown College, who work at the Chef's House...

Everything was delicious (I fell in love with the breakfast tea poached pears - YUM!)... and then it was time to get down to the stuff we were really looking forward to. Checking out some of the incredible artisans that had assembled under this one roof. The theme to the show this season was Love, in particular love for the artisans... and love them I did!


The work of Hilary Cosgrove was the first booth that I spotted and fell in love with... check our her work...

The little birds, the owls... those alphabet pillows! Everything in her booth was adorable, and in my opinion great for adults and children alike. I brought something home for myself from her booth... I'll share that another time though!

Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to wander around on Thursday - so I headed back over yesterday with B and my parents to have a longer stroll around the building and check out some other booths. Our first stop is one of our usuals... where the talented artisan knows us. Terry, from Fables, Fantasy & Fairy Tales is a One of Kind veteran, and member of their Hall of Fame!

Each of the fairy's are hand made with the faces hand painted - so they are extremely delicate and each one unique! Terry also does custom pieces. A couple of years ago we contacted him in the early fall to recreate B's parents favourite wedding photo as a Christmas gift... and it was breath taking! I wish I had a photo handy to share, but trust, he does an incredible job! Looking for a life like cake topper? I recommend his work!

We continued down the aisle and stumbled across the beautiful stained glass work of Michelle Hiltz.

I adored that beautiful snowflake, and how lovely are those leaves? B stopped to ask her about her process and it was beyond impressive to hear what she goes through to make her lovely pieces! 

After visiting Michelle we popped over to Pietersma Tinworks. The booth is just as beautiful as all of the pieces within it...

We have some of his tin tinsel on our tree and it's beautiful (and pet friendly!). He also creates gorgeous lanterns and how about those night lights? His little booth was packed with ladies snatching up all kinds of lovely tin pieces shortly after I started snapping photos... and I'm sure it will be that way throughout the show!

During our travels throughout the show floor, I was also drawn to the adorable booth for open door designs, who create puppets and puppet theatres.

I loved how soft and whimsical these gorgeous little puppets were. B and I agreed that puppets are something we thought are a little lost among kids today, but these were so fantastic! There was such a variety of different creatures... I loved the dragon, and B was a big fan of the devil (go figure).

One of the last booths that I knew I had to share, was the work of Katie from Lost Nation. Her whole booth immediately drew me in... in particular, her gorgeous light fixtures!

Made from sticks and driftwood, all of her pieces are so lovely - check out her humane antlers! She mentioned that a lady had picked up a pair for her nursery - isn't that such a sweet idea!? B and I also thought her large light fixture would look great in our front entrance when it's finished. 

Just a few more booths that I visited but didn't snap any pictures of (but knew I had to share): Fine Wood Ornaments, Katie McLellan and Art Toy Universe Studio. 

I couldn't thank these talented individuals enough for letting me get in there and snap pictures of their beautiful pieces of work - but I just knew I had to share them with my readers! If you're interested in visiting any of them in person, the show is open until December 5th at the Direct Energy Centre on the Exhibition Grounds. It's a great day out, especially if you need to get some Christmas shopping done - B and I picked up a bunch of great little things! 

Have you been yet this year, or do you plan on going? Would love to hear what your favourite part of the show was this year!