Pretty in Pink

Stofa’s decadent chocolate bonbons are as much art as dessert, sophisticated eye candy in imaginative flavours such as cherry negroni and rhubarb-and-raspberry jelly. These sweets are made by Kathryn Ferries, who dreams up her imaginative chocolates as special treats for guests visiting the restaurant for an anniversary or a birthday celebration. Eye candy, indeed.

Have Fun

What happens when an amusement park becomes the inspiration for a housewares collection? Whimsy, fun, and a multifaceted approach to beauty, that’s what. After all, Denmark’s Tivoli Gardens, which welcomes close to five million visitors a year, has been enchanting visitors since 1843. Earlier this year, Danish design company Normann Copenhagen launched the Tivoli collection, some 300 objects that reference the gardens, musical performances, theatre, and architectural styles in the storied park. Many of these pieces are now available in Ottawa exclusively through The Modern Shop.

Shop Talk

New shop alert! West of Main Shoppe brings high-fashion furniture and accessories to south Ottawa with a curated selection of pieces that range from sofas to tables and Turkish pottery to Belgian linens. Co-founders Sascha Lafleur and Justin Thomason also run their nine-person design centre out of the 2,000-square-foot shop and share space with Uashmama, an Italian line of environmentally friendly washable paper bags and placemats. So many reasons to pop by for a visit.

Face Time

Eric Young of Grassroots Furniture says his home on the Indian River in Clayton allows him lots of opportunity to admire waterfowl. Young uses those observations to create rustic and refined duck-head serving boards. A second-generation woodworker, he owns a 40-acre bush lot and cuts his own oak, ash, birch, maple, walnut, and butternut for his pieces. Look for Young’s serving boards, cutting boards, and end-grain butcher blocks at Jacobsons Gourmet Concepts, Maker House, and through General Fine Craft gallery in Almonte.