l`alliance du design et de la technologie l`alliance du design et de la

16
AutoCAD in Toronto
more than just design
QUÉBEC
•
IFCS à Montréal
relève le défi de
l’entretien industriel
12
MONTRÉAL
•
TORONTO
•
YUZU à
Québec : les
sushi à emporter
se portent bien
WINNIPEG
•
20
KITCHENER
WINTER 2009
HIVER 2009
L’ALLIANCE DU
DESIGN ET DE
LA TECHNOLOGIE
Montreal’s Pixel Circus:
Web Wise
10
MONTRÉAL
Au troisième étage du 87 Rue Prince, un coup de jeune qui
donne le ton aux futurs travaux de rénovation de la Cité
CITÉ MULTIMÉDIA, MONTRÉAL / - Les locataires du 87 Rue Prince
auront la primeur du projet de rénovation global de la Cité Multimédia. Les
travaux ont en effet commencé pour rajeunir les zones communes de l’immeuble et remplacer la palette de couleurs défraîchies par des teintes plus éclatantes
ainsi que les lumières par des éclairages T5.
« Ce rajeunissement est nécessaire », affirme Miguel Escobar, architecte,
urbaniste et designer d’intérieurs à Montréal, dont l’agence (MEA+U) propose
des stratégies immobilières à la fois aux villes et aux propriétaires privés
depuis 1985.
C’est lui qui, avec Linda Fillion, est à l’origine du projet de rénovation de la
Cité et qui, en sélectionnant une nouvelle palette de couleurs composée
d’un dégradé de gris clair, de gris foncé et de rouge cerise et en choisissant de
nouveaux éclairages et autres détails de décoration, va redonner un coup de
jeune aux zones communes du complexe.
« Nous aimions beaucoup les plaques de métal utilisées pour les enseignes des
locataires et nous nous sommes inspirés de leur rouge pour créer une palette
plus vivante », explique Miguel Escobar avant d’ajouter que si les rénovations
sont limitées, elles seront aussi respectueuses de l’environnement.
Le tapis à rayures rouges sur fond gris choisi par Miguel Escobar est composé
de 70 pour cent de matériaux recyclés. Fourni sous forme de grands carrés de
24 pouces, c’est lors de l’installation que le motif qu’on veut donner aux sols
est choisi.
Quant à l’éclairage, il sera plus respectueux de l’environnement et une seule
lumière T5 est prévue pour remplacer chaque paire de lumières installée
actuellement.
L’agence Miguel Escobar Architectes (MEA+U) a réalisé toutes sortes de projets immobiliers,
du simple bureau de réception à l’aménagement de 200 hectares dans le centre de Beijing.
Son projet Port-de-Mer, ici en photo, inclut le premier site hors campus de l’Université de
Montréal et a reçu le deuxième prix de l’Institut de développement urbain en 2005.
CHRONIQUE COMMUNAUTAIRE • 2
87 Prince’s third floor
corridor update to
drive aesthetic for
future work
Tenants at 87 Queen are at the forefront
of a wholesale aesthetic change in the
Cité Multimedia as work is underway to
renovate the common spaces, replacing
the drab 10-year-old colour pallet and
less efficient lighting with bolder, more
dynamic colours and T5 high output
fixtures.
“There’s definitely a need to refresh
those areas,” says Miguel Escobar, a
Montreal architect, urban planner and
interior designer whose firm (MEA+U) has
been providing comprehensive real estate
planning strategies to cities and private
owners since 1985.
The new light greys, charcoal and
cherry red are part of a pallet of colours,
fixtures and finishes he developed with
colleague Linda Fillion that will form a
new look in Cité buildings as updates to
common areas are needed. While the
changes may not be extensive, they
will incorporate environmentally sound
principles.
The charcoal grey with red pinstripe
accent carpet Escobar plans to use is made
from 70 percent recycled materials and the
new diffused lighting will be more efficient
(a single T5 fixture planned for installation
can replace two of the existing lights).
NOUVO ST-ROCH, QUEBEC CITY / - There’s a store on Rue
St-Joseph in Nouvo St-Roch where you can buy breathable wine
glasses and black table salt. “The salt tastes like sea salt,” offers Émilie
Gougelet, manager of Baltazar, a five-year-old kitchen and curiosity
shop that has been a staple in this neighbourhood since the area
began earning a reputation as a burgeoning shopping district.
Gougelet and her staff do their homework, researching online,
attending tradeshows and monitoring media to stay on top of
culinary trends as well as stock the latest gadgetry. It’s what has
earned Baltazar, an 3,500-square-foot store on the ground floor of a
renovated 100-year-old building, a reputation as the place to get
hard-to-find items on the leading edge in kitchen and hosting.
Wine accessories are a big draw (Eisch’s breathable wineglasses are
a popular item) but traditional quality cookware like colourful
cast-iron Le Cuistot, and a selection of modern tableware organized
by designer, make this an easy place to find a range of functional
and fashionable options. There’s also an exotic selection of vinegars,
oils (infused with truffles, for example) and salts (black salt from
Hawaii and pink salt from Australia).
But not everything here is international. In fact Baltazar works
hard to feature as many Quebec-made products as possible: the Ravi
instant wine chiller device is one, as are gourmet chocolates from
Genevieve Grandbois and Theobromer.
Des objets de cuisine
qui sortent de l’ordinaire
Des verres à vin respirants, du sel de table noir...
des articles insolites mais que vous trouverez dans
un magasin de la rue St-Joseph, au Nouvo St-Roch.
« Il a le goût du sel de mer » lance Émilie Gougelet,
gérante du Baltazar, magasin d’accessoires culinaires
et d’objets de décoration originaux, établi il y a cinq
ans et devenu incontournable depuis que le quartier
a pris son envol commercial.
Émilie Gougelet et son équipe dénichent leurs
trouvailles sur Internet, dans les salons professionnels
et en épluchant les médias afin d’être au courant des
dernières tendances culinaires et des gadgets les
plus récents. C’est ainsi que Baltazar,
installé dans 3 500 pieds carrés au rez-dechaussé d’un immeuble centenaire mais
totalement rénové, a acquis la réputation
d’une boutique où l’on trouve toutes sortes
d’accessoires difficiles à trouver et à la pointe
du progrès culinaire et de l’art de la table.
Les accessoires pour le vin sont très appréciés (notamment les verres respirants de
Eisch), mais la variété d’articles de qualité
plus traditionnels, comme les casseroles en
fonte Le Cuistot, et une sélection d’accessoires de table présentée par designer, font de
Baltazar le lieu idéal pour trouver des objets
fonctionnels ou dernier cri. La boutique propose également une sélection exotique de
vinaigres, d’huiles (aux truffes par exemple)
et de sels (sel noir d’Hawai et sel rose
d’Australie).
Mais Baltazar ne fait pas que dans l’international. En fait, le magasin est sans cesse
à la recherche de produits québécois à
proposer à ses clients : le rafraîchisseur à vin
instantané Ravi en est un exemple, comme
les chocolats fins de Geneviève Grandbois
ou de Theobromer.
[email protected]
3 • WINTER 2009
QUÉBEC
Quebec’s Kitchen & Curiosity Shop
STUDIO TAK :
le défi du
design industriel
Des jouets aux équipements de télécommunication, un designer industriel touche à tout.
AV DU PARC, MONTRÉAL / - Savoir allier
marketing, design conceptuel, ergonomie et ingénierie
est le type de compétences qui permet au designer
industriel de réaliser des prouesses.
Quand ça fonctionne, on ne remarque rien et c’est
seulement quand l’alliance de l’esthétique et du
fonctionnel produit un résultat exceptionnel qu’on y
prête attention (comparez le Mac et le PC).
C’est justement à ce niveau qu’intervient TAK Design,
société de design industriel installée au 6300, avenue
du Parc. Fondée il y a trois ans par trois designers aux
compétences très diverses, elle créée toutes sortes de
produits : valise, bouchons pour bouteilles en plastique,
équipements médicaux et même serveurs hautes technologies par satellite.
DES SPÉCIALISTES AVEC UNE EXPÉRIENCE
DIVERSIFIÉE Contrairement à celui qui travaille à
l’interne d’une entreprise manufacturière, un designer
indépendant doit avoir des compétences extrêmement
diversifiées. Et le champ de ses connaissances s’étend
tout au long de sa carrière. En fait, l’éventail de compétences de TAK est tellement vaste qu’il en fait presque
une société trop généraliste, déclare Daniel Tassé, son
président.
« Nous devons ajuster notre portefeuille en fonction
de notre interlocuteur. Nous ne voulons pas que nos
clients des hautes technologies nous pensent trop
spécialisés dans les produits de consommation, et vice
versa », explique-t-il.
Mais cette diversité est une qualité essentielle, car un
designer industriel indépendant comme Tak est souvent
sollicité pour travailler au sein d’une équipe interne dans
le but d’apporter un œil extérieur, une perspective non
négligeable qu’il s’agisse de créer des distributrices à eau
ou des moniteurs échographiques.
La résolution de problèmes « Les designers industriels
sont avant tout des professionnels de l’efficacité », explique
Jo-Philippe Laflamme, vice-président de la firme. Bien
que très lié au marketing, le design industriel est né de la
révolution industrielle et sa fonction première était, et est
encore aujourd’hui, de rendre un produit performant et
manufacturable.
UN MAÎTRE-MOT : L’EFFICACITÉ… « La fabrication
d’un moule peut coûter 80 000 $, donc si l’on veut
produire 1 000 unités d’un objet, il faut trouver d’autres
manières de les fabriquer », explique Daniel Tassé.
Cela nécessite une excellente compréhension des
matériaux et des processus de fabrication et c’est le gros
du travail réalisé par son équipe. C’est une activité basée
presque uniquement sur la résolution de problèmes
comme le montre un de leurs projets les plus récents.
Une société technologique a mis au point un système
électronique destiné aux entreprises de transport qui
permet de détecter la somnolence au volant. Ce système
est basé sur une série de capteurs optiques à infrarouge
qui détecte les mouvements oculaires du conducteur,
déclenche une alarme et permet d’alerter un répartiteur
en temps réel.
Au départ, ce système fonctionnait parfaitement bien
mais avait la taille d’un bottin téléphonique et il ne tenait
pas compte des contraintes de taille du tableau de bord
d’un camion. C’est là qu’a commencé le travail de TAK.
L’équipe a pensé à l’ergonomie, à l’esthétique et à la
fonctionnalité du système pour en faire une petite
composante du tableau de bord, de la taille d’un GPS.
Tak Design works on the ergonomics, aesthetics and functionality of everything from luggage and plastic bottle caps to an
electronic device for transportation firms that detects driver sleepiness (pictured top of page).
COMMUNITY CHRONICLE • 4
takdi.com
MONTRÉAL
STUDIO TAK: Where form meets function
Montreal industrial designers work on everything from toys to telecom equipment.
Combining ergonomics, marketing, and engineering, industrial
design is the type of profession whose effects are often hidden
in plain view. When it works, you don’t tend to notice it, but sometimes, when it works well, you can become acutely aware of the
fact that someone sat down to think about what this object will
look like and how it will perform its task (think Mac versus PC).
That’s what TAK Design’s team at 6300 Avenue du Parc does.
The independent industrial design firm, started three years ago
when three principals decided to combine their expertise, works
on everything from luggage and plastic bottle caps to high tech
wireless satellite server systems and medical equipment.
SPECIALISTS WITH DIVERSE EXPERIENCE It’s a
massive cross-disciplinary role to be an independent industrial
designer, as opposed to working in-house for a large manufacturer,
and it makes for a career of constant learning. In fact, the Montreal
consultancy’s breadth and depth of experience almost makes it
seem too generalist, says president Daniel Tassé.
“We have to edit our portfolio a little depending on who we are
talking to because we don’t want our high tech clients, for example,
to think that we were too consumer product oriented, or vice versa,”
he says.
But diversity of experience is essential to a third-party design
firm such as TAK, which is often called upon to work with a
company’s in-house designers to bring that important outsider
perspective to a range of projects from water coolers to sonar
monitors.
A MATTER OF EFFICIENCY Industrial designers are first
and foremost efficiency experts, explains the firm’s VP Jo-Phillipe
Laflamme. Despite a tight connection to marketing, industrial
design was a profession born of the industrial revolution and
whose primary function to this day remains being able to sort
out a product’s manufacturability.
“Building a mould could cost $80,000 so if you only want to
manufacture 1,000 units of something, you have to come up
with other ways to build it,” says Tassé. This involves a keen understanding of materials and manufacturing processes, and is the
bulk of what TAK’s designers, engineers and technicians work on.
It’s a job that centres almost entirely on problem solving as
one recently completed project demonstrates.
A tech company developed an electronic device for transportation firms to detect driver sleepiness. While it worked well,
using infra-red tracking of driver eye movements to trigger
alarms, the device was the size of a Montreal phonebook and
didn’t fit on a truck dashboard. Enter TAK. They looked at the
ergonomics, aesthetics and functionality of the device to develop
a small dashboard component the size of a GPS unit.
5 • WINTER 2009
TORONTO
Selection& Style
With a 14,000-square-foot showroom of bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms and
home offices, King Street East browsers can expect to find something contemporary
or modern and tasteful to suit their needs at InDesign Furnishings.
KING ST. EAST, TORONTO / Given its address, in the heart of
Toronto’s King Street East furniture
district at 214 King Street East,
InDesign Furnishings has had little
need to advertise.
“People come to the area to shop
for furniture and our two-storey
retail store with 14,000 square feet
is hard to miss, so we get a lot of walk-in traffic,” says
Gene Pong, who has worked in the area for seven years,
the last four of which as owner of InDesign Furnishings.
Offering a mix of modern and contemporary furniture
– all available in a massive range of fabrics (depending on
the piece, you might have between 300 and 500 different
swatches to select from) and most of what you see on the
floor is in stock, so buyers out to furnish a new condo
over a weekend can get immediate satisfaction from their
shopping experience.
COMMUNITY CHRONICLE • 6
LARGE-SCALE BOUTIQUE “People don’t really come in
here with the intention of buying a specific thing. It’s
the nature of the area, they’re often coming in for ideas,”
says Pong, a University of Waterloo math grad who
worked as a controller for a downtown furniture retailer
before setting out on his own in late 2004.
Despite the size of the two-storey showroom, he tries
to keep a boutique feel by offering a number of pieces
you’re not likely to find anywhere else.
The Bradford bedroom suite is made of solid black
cherry wood, whose mineral deposits create beautiful
swirls in the grain. And the Judd sofa’s clean line,
precise tailoring, and condo size dimensions offer buyers
quality craftsmanship, using a sinuous spring suspension
system and high-density, high resiliency foam core.
What’s more, items like this one are stocked in popular
fabrics so buyers can have it delivered in the same week.
Crush Winebar and Metivier
Gallery join forces to produce
annual poster
Hampton bed
Klein home office
Judd sofa
MADE IN NORTH AMERICA Sixty percent of what
Pong has on his floor is available immediately. It’s just
the special order fabrics that can take longer. And
prices remain reasonable as a lot of the pieces are
private labeled for InDesign. About seventy-five
percent of the furniture is made in North America and
twenty percent is of Italian origin.
That means quality control is tight. All sofas have
solid wood frames that are kiln dried to reduce warping
in the wood, and joints are corner blocked for extra
strength and reinforcement, he explains, adding that
by using domestic production, buyers have a much
greater ability to choose fabrics.
To get a better idea of what’s on offer, it’s worth
spending a bit of your lunch hour checking it out.
The two-storey space usually shows anywhere from 12
to 14 bedroom sets, as many as 26 sofa sets, 30 dining
rooms and various home office options.
Tastings, Movie Night, $1 corkage
fees and set lunch and dinner menus
highlight Crush’s 2009 offerings
KING WEST CENTRAL, TORONTO / - Crush launched its
sixth annual poster in November – this time with the help
of King Street West neighbour Nicholas Metiver Gallery
who connected the restaurant with the talents of Toronto
photographer Edward Burtynsky for this year’s image. The
limited edition poster, featuring a cork tree in Portugal,
sells for $300 with proceeds going to the Hospital for
Sick Children.
“We’d talked about doing a poster together some years
ago,” says Crush owner Jamieson Kerr of the renowned
photographer, “and when he was in Portugal last year he
saw this tree and shot it with us in mind.”
Crush, recently voted one of the top 10 restaurants of
2008 by NOW magazine, has a number of tastings, events
and promotions scheduled for 2009 continuing to establish
the seven-year-old restaurant as an unpretentious go-to
wine bar whose front of house features a modern pub-like
setting.
The monthly Brown Bag Tastings will start again in late
January as well as Movie Night (on the last Tuesday of
each month, the front is set up for watching food and wine
themed films). Kerr along with sommeliers Eric Gennaro
and Marlise Ponzo will continue to fill the wine list with top
ten picks, but they’ve added an evening tasting component
where you can try these wines and meet the wine agents
– and even buy selections not available at the LCBO.
For 2009, Crush has also introduced a set $20 lunch and
$35 dinner, and on Monday
nights only there’s a $1
corkage fee, so you can
bring in your best
bottle to enjoy with a one
of Crush’s reinvented
traditional English dishes
made with farm fresh
local product.
Crushwinebar.com
[email protected]
7 • WINTER 2009
Boutique stationery firm in Winnipeg a growing international card maker
KATE &BIRD
COMMUNITY CHRONICLE • 8
DIE
“
PAPER
CO.
kateandbirdie.com
9 • WINTER 2009
WINNIPEG
EXCHANGE DISTRICT, WINNIPEG / - Gloria
LEARNING THE BUSINESS A natural entrepreneur,
Wall’s daughter was only nine months old when she
Wall enjoys the business end of her work almost as
knew she wouldn’t go back to working for someone
much as illustration. Good thing, because managing
else. That’s also about the time she picked up her pencil
the firm’s growth has pushed her drawing time into the
crayons. Wall had been drawing pretty much since
evenings, after a full day of working with her small
receiving a Crayola crayon caddy for her fifth Christmas
team (three staff, including her younger sister, and with
but now began scribbling with renewed purpose
occasional help from her older sister) to fill print orders
conjuring animals and streetscapes to entertain her
and organize shipping.
daughter and personalize her own stationery.
Having worked as a budding interior designer at
When friends and family began asking for cards and
Urban Barn, she knew a lot about retail but discovered
boxed notes, she recognized an opportunity and set
early on that stationery retailers are a fickle lot. When
about learning the stationery business. Seeing her first
she started, she had a few local stores stocking her work,
cards come off the press in 2003, she decided she’d like
but found that she would have to travel to Toronto to
to be the next Hallmark. Now, with over 200 different
display at a trade show in order to gain more street cred.
cards, distribution in six countries, Wall’s Kate & Birdie
Her first show in 2006 was a tremendous success. She’d
paper company, located at 70 Arthur St., has established
invested $4,000 to be there and hoped modestly to
a firm foothold in the boutique
break even and gain some
stationery market.
exposure.
“From the beginning I wanted
“But that first year, I blew
to build something big,” says Wall,
it
out
of the water and came
“From the beginning I
a slight, 30-year-old brunette with
home with orders for 25
wanted to build somea bright disposition and a calm
stores across Canada,” she
manner. “I didn’t want it to just be
says. Now she does three
thing big. I didn’t
a little hobby. I was starting with
tradeshows a year to drum
want it to just be a little
an end in mind.”
up the bulk of her Canadian
business, and has added
hobby. I was starting
INSPIRED BY KIDS’ BOOKS
an international show in
Described as retro-nostalgic and
New York City to build her
with an end in mind.”
whimsical, Wall’s designs have
global exposure.
an initial appeal to parents and
children – given how she was
A GLOBAL REACH “In the
initially inspired by all the children’s
U.S. the competition is
books she was reading to her daughter – but their
pretty fierce. There are a thousand companies like me,”
elegant style gives them a near universal appeal as
says Wall, but her style, often described as ‘very dear’,
tasteful and decorative little art pieces.
stood out enough to be picked up by distributors in
Brussels, Switzerland and Mexico.
Each design starts with a sketch and is then drawn
using Illustrator software (even the background patterns
Beyond a growing collection of box notes and
such as the snowflakes in her holiday collection are
greeting cards, Wall is also putting some of her drawings
drawn and repeated, rather than using clip art), her
on canvases, an idea that came from the requests
collections feature a cast of mostly animal characters
tradeshow attendees made about buying the large-format
and jolly little streetscapes that are in part inspired by
cards she’d produced for display purposes.
her love of film. In fact, the name Kate & Birdie is a
Reading Good to Great and other business books has
reference to Meg Ryan’s bookshop owner in 1998’s
helped hone her focus and she is laying the groundwork
You’ve Got Mail.
for further expansion with calendars, more prints and
the possibility of working with textile manufacturers
to license some designs for fabrics.
“I think moving into décor might be an interesting
direction,” muses Wall. But for now, things are busy as
the tradeshow season moves into full swing.
“
“Our focus is on design because we come
from the design side, but our approach
is one that includes a rigid adherence to
using the latest technology available”
COMMUNITY CHRONICLE • 10
offer a focus on aesthetics with technical savvy to match
RUE ATLANTIC, MONTREAL / - In 1998, when
Etienne Bourque-Viens finished his graphic design
studies, there was little formal education available on
the kind of design that really interested him: Web design.
That’s why, in 1999, he made his own internship, setting
about finding work throughout Europe where the use of
the Web was somewhat more culturally sophisticated.
“I remember when I started working in Denmark,
Web firms were already building advanced multi-platform
campaigns including mobiles and it was not rare to find
a 100-employee Web agency,” says the 30-year-old president of Pixel Circus, a seven-year-old going concern in
Montreal’s Web design world.
With 1,300 square feet at 400 Rue Atlantic, the
five-person firm has carved a niche for itself as a responsive
and creative Web solution provider for companies with
high end consumer goods as well as organizations in the
culture industry.
Among satisfied clients it counts upscale restaurants
like Toqué! as well as Librairie Monet, an independent
bookstore that needed to update its image, connect
with its clients and distinguish itself as more local and
cooperative than its larger competitors. Pixel Circus
brought in illustrator Janice Nadeau to create distinctive
images (silhouettes seemingly cut from the pages of a
book) to bring the site’s pages to life while it set to
work devising a high-end aesthetic with content the client
could manage on its own, like adding weekly events to its
calendar and regularly updating its new releases section.
“If you give the client the ability to manage aspects
of the site themselves, and it’s easy for them to do, they’ll
do it,” says Bourque-Viens.
“Our focus is on design because we come from the
design side, but our approach is one that includes a rigid
adherence to using the latest technology available,” says
Éric Férole, the company’s VP of interactive strategies.
To date all of its marketing has been word-of mouth,
but now the team hopes to explore opportunities in the
different market segments in which it operates, one of
which is library science.
“Yes, it’s a small segment, but we have a lot of clients in
it,” says Férole, citing Bibliotèque et Archives nationales
du Québec as examples.
Driven by design and eager to grow their offering, Pixel
Circus also has clients in business consulting, architecture
and interior design, education as well as marketing.
pixelcircus.ca
Pixel Circus : L’alliance du design et de la technologie
En 1998, lorsque Étienne Bourque-Viens finissait ses études collégiales
en graphisme, il n’y avait que peu de formation dans le type de design
qui l’intéressait : le design Web. C’est pourquoi en 1999 il a créé son
propre stage en tentant de trouver du travail en Europe, dans les pays
où l’utilisation du Web était un peu plus avancée.
« Quand j’ai commencé à travailler au Danemark, les spécialistes
du Web créaient déjà des campagnes multi-plateformes, y compris
avec le téléphone cellulaire, et les agences de 100 employés n’étaient
pas rares » affirme le président de Pixel Circus, firme montréalaise de
conception et de réalisation de sites Web, créée il y a sept ans.
Installée dans 1 300 pieds carrés au 400, rue Atlantic, cette agence
de cinq personnes propose des solutions Web créatives et flexibles
notamment aux entreprises vendant des biens de consommation
haut de gamme et au secteur culturel.
Parmi ses clients, la Librairie Monet, une librairie indépendante
qui souhaitait moderniser son image tout en se positionnant comme
une entreprise locale, proche de ses clients et offrant un service plus
personnalisé que ses concurrents de plus grande taille. En faisant
appel à l’illustratrice Janice Nadeau, Pixel Circus a su trouver des
images originales (des silhouettes qui semblent avoir été découpées
des pages d’un livre) pour réveiller les pages du site tout en créant
à la fois un graphisme esthétique et un contenu que le client peut
mettre à jour lui-même.
« Si on donne au client la possibilité de gérer lui-même facilement
certaines parties du site, il le fera » affirme Étienne Bourque-Viens en
expliquant que tout le monde y gagne : Pixel Circus est déchargée
d’une partie du travail et la librairie est plus autonome, elle sait ajouter
les événements hebdomadaires au calendrier et mettre à jour la
section des nouveautés.
« Nous sommes particulièrement sensibles au design parce que
nous sommes issus de ce domaine, mais notre approche consiste
à toujours veiller à utiliser la technologie la plus récente », explique
Éric Férole, vice-président des stratégies interactives. Tandis que
certains restaurants de choix comme Toqué! apprécient la créativité
et l’interactivité du design de Pixel Circus, d’autres clients recherchent
ses compétences techniques pour ajouter à un site déjà existant de
nouvelles composantes comme un outil d’infolettres.
Pour l’instant, le marketing de la firme s’est limité au bouche à
oreille, mais aujourd’hui l’équipe espère trouver de nouveaux
débouchés dans les segments de marché qu’elle connaît déjà,
notamment la bibliothéconomie.
« C’est effectivement un petit secteur, mais il représente une
part importante de notre clientèle », déclare Éric Férole en donnant
comme exemple Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.
Pixel Circus compte également des clients dans les domaines du
conseil aux entreprises, de l’architecture, de la décoration d’intérieur,
de l’éducation et du marketing.
11 • WINTER 2009
MONTRÉAL
Performance Art Montreal Web designers Pixel Circus
Image courtesy of Paulin
The highlight of Autodesk’s six floors at 210 King Street East is the second floor’s Viz studio (breakout area pictured left) where four projectors can operate
simultaneously with screens moving into position to form a circular presentation room.
AutoCAD maker shines beyond design and build
From Oscar wins to manufacturing to automobile design, Autodesk’s
reach is as broad as its scope.
KING STREET EAST, TORONTO / - The lobby of
Autodesk’s Toronto offices on King Street East has the
tidy look many technology firms have come to adopt
for their space.
The front’s glass curtain wall reveals soaring ceilings,
an industrial-style steel staircase rising from slate floors,
all set against a background of sandblasted brick walls
that hint at the building’s heritage character. Despite
these impressive aesthetics, it’s a small glass box in the
lobby area which tends to pique most visitors’ attention.
That’s because it contains the recognizable gold figure
of an Oscar.
“When you bring clients into this building, you see
[the Oscar], you see movie posters and some screens
showing special effects, and it really helps break down
that barrier that we’re just the ‘AutoCAD company’,”
says Kerry Saumur, Manufacturing Sales
Development Director.
DIGITAL MODELS TO VISUALIZE IDEAS From buildings
and bridges to machines and movies, Autodesk software
products, of which there are more than 60, are used
mainly to create digital models and workflows so that
users can visualize their ideas before they become a reality.
The Oscar in the lobby of 210 King Street East was
awarded in 2003 for “Technical Achievement” in the
development of Maya® visualization software. Maya
was used recently to create 3D effects in features such
as Spider-Man 3 and Pan’s Labyrinth.
For those familiar with the space, it was formerly
the headquarters of Alias, the Maya developer (among
other tools) that was acquired in 2006 by Autodesk. The
purchase broadened Autodesk’s reach into the entertainment industry and brought the Canadian team, formerly
headquartered in Markham, into the downtown core.
COMMUNITY CHRONICLE • 12
Founded 25 years ago in California, Autodesk changed
the world of design by automating drafting with the
introduction of AutoCAD. Today, it estimates more than
9 million designers, architects, engineers and digital
artists in 160 countries use its products.
LOOKING ‘HOLISTICALLY’ “Autodesk covers a wide
spectrum,” says Saumur who has been with the firm for
14 years. From architecture and construction to automotive, to manufacturing, to multimedia and entertainment,
to utilities and telecom, anywhere design and visualization
software can be applied is a marketplace for Autodesk.
“It’s not about working on one specific aspect of a
company but looking at an organization holistically,”
says Saumur, whose area of expertise is in manufacturing.
If a company were starting a manufacturing facility
from the ground up, a number of Autodesk solutions
could be employed, explains Saumur. Autodesk®
Inventor® can create a digital prototype of an assembly
line, while Revit® Architecture can create the building
model to test for efficiency as well as functionality.
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® can help with the land planning,
such as determining how much earth must be removed to
build a road or a foundation, and Autodesk MapGuide®
can examine data concerning the location of the building.
A VIRTUAL REALITY Visualization software allows users
to walk through a virtual building, operate a virtual
assembly line and even get behind the wheel of a virtual car.
Building a physical prototype of a car is expensive, says
Saumur, so a lot of visualization software is used in automotive development. He adds that images from software
like Autodesk® Showcase® often make their way into
brochures and even television ads.
autodesk.com
Toronto’s GotStyle menswear offers guys a few
easy rules to tune your winter wardrobe
“We’re not suggesting guys should dress weird or wear tight clothes, says GotStyle owner and chief fashonista Melissa Austria, “we’re
just advocating that you should buy clothes that fit better and that you should keep your style up to date.” GotStyle’s second floor
showroom at King and Spadina is organized by grouping coordinating items to make clothes shopping easy for guys daunted by the
whole ’matching’ thing. Austria also offers a few tips to get you started when thinking about updating your look.
gsmen.com
1. GET OUT OF THE BOX. A trim, not
tight, fit will give you shape so that
you don’t look like a box. Even if you
have a belly you can still wear a
modern cut shirt. Just look for one
with ‘darting’ in the back of the shirt
(it takes away the fullness when you
tuck it in) but still gives you ample
room in the front. Since the back is
trimmer you end up looking slimmer.
“We have guys with 18-inch necks
and 40 waists and they can’t believe
how much better they look and feel
in a modern cut,” says Austria.
2. NO MORE HANGOUTS. Dress shirts
should generally be tucked in. It’s a
bad look when it’s striped and boxy
and it’s all hanging out. If you really
want that look, stick to solids,
patterns or checks. But make sure
it’s a trim fit and a shorter cut.
3. RECESSIVE JEANS. If you want to
wear jeans less often, add some of
these to your wardrobe: grey wool
pants; dressier black pants with a
trim, modern fit; a pair of neutrals
like khakis; navy or charcoal pinstriped pants that don’t look like
business pants; and something with
a subtle check or plaid.
4. SWEAT IT. You don’t need many sweaters,
just good ones. Try for one V-neck (black,
beige or charcoal), one crew neck (striped
or a bold solid), a turtleneck (again black,
charcoal or camel) and a cardigan (go for
thin and dressy).
5. BLAZING A TRAIL. Blazers come in a range of
styles (the modern look is trim and shorter)
and materials – cord, wool, and cotton to
name some – and are a versatile wardrobe
items that can just as easily dress up a T-shirt
and jeans, as tone down a collared-shirt and
dress pants.
13 • WINTER 2009
TORONTO
5 STEPS TO DRESSING BETTER
COMMUNITY CHRONICLE • 14
TORONTO
GIVE ME LIBERTY
Liberty Group’s Asian obsession makes Spice Route one of
T.O.’s busiest dining destinations
KING WEST CENTRAL, TORONTO / - When
the Coen Brothers new film Burn After Reading
premiered at the Toronto film festival last fall, nightclub
impresarios Nick DiDonato and Charles Khabouth had
already lined up their Asian-inspired oasis Spice Route,
which opened last Spring at 499 King Street West,
to host the party.
“I’ve been doing this for twenty years, and I have to
say that was the best celebrity turnout I’ve ever seen,”
says Di Donato, president of Liberty Entertainment
Group, the firm behind an array of Toronto hot spots,
including Rosewater Supper Club, C Lounge and
The Liberty Grand.
It’s a relationship thing, says Di Donato about netting
what was considered one of the hottest parties of the
festival with a guest list that included Brad Pitt, John
Malkovich and Adrien Brody. “The studios have worked
with us before, they know we know how to handle
confidentiality and they also knew we had a new venue
in play.”
BUILDING NICHE SPOTS In the hosting industry,
restaurants and lounges are subject to cycles of popularity.
But as one of the city’s most notable ‘it spot’ developers,
Liberty group’s strategy is to build a portfolio of venues
that are complementary. Rather than cannibalize patrons
from existing hot spots, says Di Donato, it develops
niche spots for specific populations.
In the case of Spice Route, the team had a theme
and concept in mind; a modern blend of Thai, Chinese,
Indian, Japanese and Indonesian cuisine and décor
that would appeal to the 30-plus crowd in finance and
creative industries. They just needed the right space in
the right place.
AUTHENTICITY FROM DÉCOR AND MENU When this
former Mitsubishi dealership on King Street West
became available, Spice Route’s designer, Nadia Di
Donato set to work creating an Eastern-inspired urban
oasis concept with a 16-foot waterfall, multiple seating
levels, and decorated with authentic Asian antiques
(including a hand-carved Buddha icon from the
1600s) and large-scale art work by renowned artist
and photographer Douglas MacRae (look closely at
these – they’re not photos but high-realism, oil-on-silk
paintings).
While executive chef Winlai Wong’s hot rock beef
presentation (beef cooked at the table on a lava rock
heated to 400 degrees F), sumptuous Pad Thai and
crispy Tempura calamari and shrimp are solid winners
to warm your winter-weary appetite, the locale is at
its most festive in the summer when the 3,000-squarefoot patio is in full swing.
SUMMER PATIO ONE TO WATCH Tea light candles
run the perimeter of this stylish bamboo and concrete
outdoor dining room that extends around the north
and east sides of the venue. The comfy divans on
concrete benches, a wall of sheltered private booths and
outdoor koi pond are tactfully hidden from the street
by paparazzi-thwarting shrubbery. Dripping with
atmosphere, the patio is integral to what the team
wanted to develop, says Nick Di Donato, explaining
that it is truly a component of the venue rather than
an afterthought.
Hardly surprising then that it should make Toronto
Life’s Best Patios for 2008. And given the line ups last
summer, it might be advisable to look into reservations
shortly.
spiceroute.ca
15 • WINTER 2009
IFCS : l’entretien industriel planifié
Un logiciel qui rationalise la gestion des biens dans le secteur industriel
CITE MULTIMÉDIA, MONTRÉAL / - Quand on sait
Si l’industrie manufacturière constitue une large part de la
que la moitié de la population mondiale est regroupée dans
clientèle d’IFCS, le secteur de l’immobilier gagne du terrain.
des villes couvrant ensemble moins de trois pour cent de
« Il y a cinq ans, explique Xavier Bonifay, rares étaient les
la surface terrestre, on peut voir nos problèmes d’environgérants d’immeubles équipés de logiciels de gestion de biens
nement comme étant un défi industriel. C’est en tout cas
immobiliers. « Par le passé, l’entretien était considéré comme
ce qui occupe Veolia Environnement, une multinationale
une dépense, mais aujourd’hui les propriétaires d’immeubles
française qui oeuvre dans les domaines des transports,
par besoin d’optimisation et par respect pour l’environnement
de l’énergie, de la gestion des déchets et de l’eau.
sont obligés de faire plus en dépensant moins. »
Pour une multinationale de cette envergure, ayant investi
IFCS s’est développée en Amérique du Nord et compte
dans des infrastructures à l’échelle mondimaintenant des clients dans le
ale, la gestion des biens représente un réel
secteur public, notamment dans
« C’est étrange mais nous
enjeu. Depuis 16 ans, son incinérateur de
les domaines de la santé et de
Macao met à profit un logiciel créé au
sommes une des rares entreprises
l’éducation au Québec.
Québec conçu pour prévoir les activités
de logiciels à développer nos
« Dans les hôpitaux, explique
d’entretien de l’usine, faire l’inventaire des
produits au Québec et à les
Xavier Bonifay, la gestion des biens
pièces de rechange, planifier les coupures
s’applique aux bâtiments mais aussi
exporter en Asie. »
d’activité et anticiper réparations et
au matériel et à tout ce qui touche
éventuels remplacements.
directement aux patients – lits,
C’est ce même logiciel qui permet aux
tomodensitomètres, défibrillateurs, autant d’instruments à
hôpitaux du Québec de planifier l’entretien régulier de leur
gérer avec précaution. »
matériel et à Hydro Québec de gérer l’entretien préventif de
Dans le domaine de l’éducation, les universités ont
son réseau sur les Îles de la Madeleine. Bientôt les locataires
beaucoup d’infrastructures vétustes dont elles doivent gérer
de la Cité Multimédia en profiteront également pour
soigneusement les coûts. Certaines d’entre elles permettent à
effectuer des demandes de services en ligne sur le site
leurs étudiants ingénieurs d’avoir un accès à la version de
d’ Allied Properties REIT, propriétaire et gérant de la Cité.
Senergy créée pour leur établissement, même s’il n’est que
« C’est en fait un logiciel qui permet d’optimiser le calendrier
limité, pour apprendre les rouages de la gestion de biens.
d’entretien du matériel pour réduire les coûts », explique
Mais le marché québécois ne représente qu’une petite partie
Xavier Bonifay, expatrié français qui a fondé IFCS en 1993
des activités d’IFCS, qui œuvre principalement en Asie, en
avec l’idée de créer des méthodes et des logiciels d’automatisaEurope et en Amérique du Sud.
tion et d’optimisation de l’entretien du matériel technique.
« C’est étrange mais nous sommes une des rares entreprises
« L’utilisation d’un outil informatique comme celui-ci
de logiciels à développer nos produits au Québec et à les
force les entreprises, qui opèrent en mode réactif, à planifier
exporter en Asie », déclare Xavier Bonifay en ajoutant que
davantage », affirme-t-il en ajoutant qu’une fois le système
le Québec est une grande source de talent et un excellent
mis en place, ses clients utilisent le logiciel Senergy pour
laboratoire de développement.
calculer les futurs coûts d’entretien ou de remplacement d’un
bien – un outil particulièrement intéressant pour l’industrie
manufacturière.
“
COMMUNITY CHRONICLE • 16
IFCS president Xavier Bonifay
with a ‘boxed’ Synergy solution.
CITE MULTIMEDIA, MONTREAL / - With half the world’s population
living in cities that take up less than three percent of the earth, it’s
easy to see the environment as an industrial challenge. That’s the
perspective offered by Veolia Environnement, a multinational
French company with activities in water and waste management,
energy and transport services.
To a multinational like this, with billions invested in infrastructure around the world, a key industrial challenge is asset management. For 16 years now, its Macau incineration facility, part of its
international waste management responsibilities, has been using
Quebec-made software specially designed to schedule ongoing
maintenance activities, inventory spare parts, plan shut downs as
well as anticipate repairs and ultimately replacement.
The same software also helps Quebec hospitals monitor regularly scheduled maintenance on patient equipment, helps Hydro
Quebec manage preventative maintenance of its network in Iles
de la Madeleine, and soon will allow Cite Multimedia tenants to
request services online from Allied Properties REIT, the Cite’s
owner/manager.
“It basically optimizes maintenance to reduce costs,” says the
software firm’s founder Xavier Bonifay, a French expatriate who
founded IFCS in 1993 to develop software and methodologies for
automation or optimization of corporate maintenance.
“Some industries tend to operate in a reactive mode, but using
a tool like this forces companies to plan,” he says explaining that
once implemented, clients use Senergy software (now growing its
‘service-as-software’ offering) to calculate future costs of maintaining or replacing an asset - a particularly valuable feature for
manufacturing clients. But real estate has also become a growing
part of the Cite Multimedia-based firm’s focus.
About five years ago, says Bonifay, there were only a handful of
facility managers equipped with software to manage real estate
assets. "Because in the past," says Bonifay, "maintenance was
considered an expense, but now with the need for optimization and
growing environmental concerns, property owners need to spend
less and do more.”
IFCS developed its facility management expertise in North
America and has since expanded to include public sector clients in
health and education facilities in Quebec, but these are just a small
part of IFCS’s reach, with most of its activities concentrated in Asia,
Europe and South America.
“It’s strange but we are one of the few software companies to
create in Quebec and export to Asia,” he says, adding that Quebec
is a great laboratory for development and for access to talent.
ifcs-tech.com
17 • WINTER 2009
MONTRÉAL
Montreal’s IFCS software streamlines asset management to
meet challenges of industrial maintenance
KITCHENER
Talent Management
Email made resumes easy to send out. Now this Kitchener software team
makes it easy to manage the tide of electronic CVs every job posting prompts.
VICTORIA STREET, KITCHENER / - When an
Australian tourism board launched a search for a caretaker
to live in and blog about the islands of the Great Barrier
Reef, some 200,000 applicants crashed the web site early
in January for a competition that wouldn’t close until
late February.
“Emailed resumes and resumes submitted via websites
have made the response to any position much higher
than it was in the past,” says Rick Barfoot, senior director
of services at Talent Technology, a leading provider of
recruiting technologies for the recruiting/staffing industry
and corporate HR departments, with an office at
72 Victoria in Kitchener.
The days of the paper resume are mostly gone, he says,
adding that certainly for white collar positions, email and
the web account for 90 percent of the submission methods.
In the late 1990s, managing the onslaught of responses
to job postings often fell to a handful of HR staffers in
small to medium-sized companies. It was at about this
time that Talent Technology began providing its HireDesk
and Resume Mirror software solutions. These tools could
not only track applicants throughout the hiring process
(knowing who has been called and who is scheduled for
interviews, for example), but also comb through the mass
of information to sort the qualified from the less qualified.
The Resume Mirror software is used by several leading
job boards to make it easy for applicants to fill out information in a way that is useful to HR users. For example,
Reed in the UK, as well as Workoplis in Canada, provide
a resume posting function that is powered by software
from Talent Technology.
Founded in 1999, Richmond B.C.-based Talent
Technology is the company behind both the HireDesk
and Resume Mirror product lines, the latter being the
focus of the activity for the team of ten that works in the
Kitchener office. In fact, it still says Resume Mirror on
the door, remarks Barfoot, adding that it just hasn't been
changed because this is mostly where development work
goes on for that product.
In 2001, HireDesk Inc. acquired the firm that would
later develop Resume Mirror to strengthen its position in
resume extraction technology. Both HireDesk and Resume
Mirror amalgamated into Talent Technology in 2006 to
improve synergy and reduce some of the redundancies
(two offices in Richmond, for example).
Talent Technology splits its clients into two groups: the
recruiting market, where key recruiting solution providers
like Oracle, Taleo, ADP Virtual Edge, and Workopolis
partner with the company to offer clients advanced
recruiting capabilities; and the corporate market, where
hundreds of organizations ranging from Fortune 1000
firms to mid-sized and smaller independents need software
to automate, improve and better manage their sourcing,
recruiting and hiring processes.
As for the Kitchener arm of this national organization,
they have logged seven years at this location and have
made an investment to remain in the area.
“We hire locally and as a technical centre, this is a good
place to be,” says Barfoot, adding that there's still a lot
of competition for talent in the area. But with the right
hiring technology, it shouldn’t be too difficult to identify
a qualified candidate when the need arises.
Talenttech.com
COMMUNITY CHRONICLE • 18
MONTRÉAL
SETYM International
Son centre de Montréal forme des fonctionnaires étrangers
à la gestion de projets dans les pays en développement.
RUE SAINTE-CATHERINE OUEST, MONTRÉAL / - Au troisième étage
d’un immeuble de bureaux du centre de Montréal, une oeuvre murale abstraite,
composée de graines de céréales et de riz disposés dans un cadre de verre, dirige
vers leurs salles de classe des groupes de professionnels, triés sur le volet, venus
du monde entier.
« Cette pièce est entièrement composée de céréales provenant de plusieurs
des pays d’où viennent nos participants », explique Larbi Bennouna, directeur
général de SETYM International.
Depuis 1988, SETYM, une importante société de conseil et de formation,
reçoit des cadres du monde entier pour renforcer leur capacité en gestion
de projet dont le financement est assuré par des organismes internationaux
comme la Banque mondiale, la Banque africaine de développement ou
l’Agence canadienne de développement international.
« La gestion de projets appliquée au secteur du développement international
est bien spécifique », affirme M. Bennouna.
« Les projets de développement ne produisent pas nécessairement un
rendement financier», explique-t-il. « Un projet d’éducation, par exemple,
peut améliorer la qualité de vie d’une population, mais les résultats ne
peuvent être constatés que plusieurs années après sa mise en œuvre. »
« Ce qui compte, ce sont les étapes franchies et l’atteinte d’objectifs fixés
tout au long du projet », ajoute Larbi Bennouna. SETYM a récemment réalisé
un de ses objectifs : agrandir son centre de formation de Montréal (l’agence
compte également des centres de formation à Dar es Salaam en Tanzanie, à
Kuala Lumpur en Malaysie, à Douala au Cameroun et à Casablanca au
Maroc). Elle occupe maintenant 7 000 pieds carrés au troisième étage du
473, rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest.
www.setym.com
Training for project
management in
developing countries
On the third floor of a downtown Montreal office
building, a mural featuring an undulating,
abstract landscape, made entirely of grains and
rice encased in glass (pictured above), will direct
a select group of professionals from around the
world to their classrooms.
“The mural is composed of food samples
from a lot of the countries our participants
come from,” explains Larbi Bennouna, executive
director of SETYM International.
Since 1988, SETYM, a leading professional
training and consultancy firm, has been hosting
public sector managers from around the world,
for capacity building on projects financed by
international organizations such as the World
Bank, the African Development Bank, the
Canadian International Development Agency,
to name a few.
Project management for international
development projects is very specific, says
Mr.Bennouna.
“If a company like Bombardier starts a
project, there will be an expectation of financial
return. But development projects don’t
necessarily have financial returns,” he says,
explaining that an education project, for example
can improve a population’s living standard but
results are not measurable until several years
after implementation.
“It’s about milestones and attaining
objectives along the way,” he says.
SETYM recently attained one of its objectives
of expanding its training centre in Montreal
(it also has regional training centers in Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
in Douala, Cameroon and Casablanca, Morocco),
by taking 7,000 square feet on the third floor
of 473 Ste Catherine Street West.
19 • HIVER 2009
QUÉBEC
YUZU : les sushi à emporter se portent bien
NOUVO ST-ROCH, QUÉBEC/ - En six ans, Yuzu a acquis
la réputation d’un bar à sushi de qualité qui sert des mets japonais
rehaussés d’une touche d’innovation dans une ambiance moderne et
raffinée. Ses comptoirs poussent d’ailleurs comme des champignons.
À leurs débuts, les propriétaires Steve Morency, diplômé en commerce
de l’Université Laval, et Frédéric Matte, n’avaient pas pour idée de
développer une chaîne de restaurants nationale. Mais, lorsqu’en 2005,
Holt Renfrew à Place Sainte-Foy demande à YUZU d’ouvrir un
comptoir de sushi à emporter à l’intérieur de son café, leur projet
change, admet Steve Morency.
Depuis, sept comptoirs YUZU ont vu le jour et sept autres doivent
ouvrir prochainement alors que les deux associés continuent leur
expansion depuis leur bureau niché au 6e étage au dessus du restaurant
de St-Roch, boulevard Charest Est.
Les propriétaires de franchises reçoivent un manuel de 400 pages,
une formation pour leur équipe et un soutien pour le lancement.
À cela s’ajoutent des services de dépannage et des contrôles qualité
réguliers pour veiller à ce que tout soit à la hauteur de la marque
YUZU. Et la hauteur est impressionnante…
YUZU a en effet remporté le prix du choix des consommateurs trois
années consécutives et Steve Morency a gagné le prix Jeunes personnalités d’affaires dans la catégorie Alimentation et Restauration par la
Chambre de commerce de Québec et est finaliste pour le titre “jeune
personnalit. d’affaires de l’année”.
La marque YUZU est non seulement un sceau de qualité pour les
consommateurs, mais elle est aussi associée à l’innovation. Outre la
sélection habituelle, son rouleau ise ebi, maki de crabe et homard, a
beaucoup de succès tout comme ses desserts, des pâtisseries à base de
chocolat confectionnées en rouleaux comme des sushi et qui ont fait une
sacrée concurrence à la traditionnelle bûche Noël en décembre dernier.
YUZU’s sushi on the
go, is well under way
For over six years now Quebec City’s YUZU has
established itself as a quality sushi resto with
an innovative take on the Japanese standard
served in a modern, upscale atmosphere, and
now its counters are popping up everywhere.
In its earliest days, owners Steve Morency, a
Laval business grad, and Frédéric Matte, hadn’t
thought of growing a national restaurant chain,
but when Holt Renfrew at Place Ste-Foy asked
YUZU to open a take-out counter in their café in
2005, that’s when the plan changed, recalls
Morency.
Since then, seven YUZU counters have
cropped up and another seven are scheduled to
open shortly as Morency and Matte expand their
reach from the confines of a cozy office on Boul.
Charest-Est, six floors above their popular
St-Roch restaurant.
FSC LOGO HERE
www.alliedpropertiesreit.com
CHRONIQUE COMMUNAUTAIRE • HIVER 2009
Avez-vous une histoire à raconter? Écrivez-nous au [email protected]