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136 SUMMER 2024 A home with soul How residential interior projects evolve often makes a good story. Here Karen Burshtein describes the developing design of one beautiful and expressive home in Toronto 01 When Torontonian Naomi Kriss’s youngest son was about four years old she forgot to register him for camp. A colleague recommended that she call Sophie Williams, then a Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate who was grateful to take a break from her studio for a week as ‘Camp Sophie’. ‘Camp Sophie’ stayed on with the family helping to stock the fridge, make meals and run errands. Even after she went back to school to do a Masters in textile design she would drop in during the day to do some magic around the house. As soon as she graduated, Williams began to work full time for a boutique commercial
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I S SUE 75 137 02 art studio, where she managed custom art projects including wall murals. When the Kriss family began renovations of their Edwardian home, they called on Williams to design a mural for the dining room. She took inspiration from the hip neighbourhood they live in. She also painted all members of the household, including herself, immersed in their activities and with all sorts of inside jokes. The airiness of her imagery counteracted the enclosure of the heavy wood walls. In 2019 Sophie joined Creative Matters, a Toronto company known for finely crafted and ethically produced custom wool carpets. The Kriss couple had been seeking a carpet for their living room, and so of course they again turned to Williams to design a custom rug. Their brief was somewhat challenging: develop a design that would complement, but also serve as a counterpoint to, the Edwardian bones of the house; that would tie together their disparate furnishings; and that would complement the mural in the adjoining dining room. Working with a designer who knows a family intimately is a rare privilege. As well, Williams’s access to a range of yarn and pile, and ethical partnership with weavers ( in this case in India), helped tick all the boxes the family had for their custom carpet. www.creativemattersinc.com Their brief was somewhat challenging: develop a design that would complement, but also serve as a counterpoint to, the Edwardian bones of the house 01  Naomi Kriss’s home in Toronto featuring a wall mural by Sophie Williams 02, 03  Rug design developed by Sophie Williams and Creative Matters 03

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136 SUMMER 2024

A home with soul How residential interior projects evolve often makes a good story. Here Karen Burshtein describes the developing design of one beautiful and expressive home in Toronto

01

When Torontonian Naomi Kriss’s youngest son was about four years old she forgot to register him for camp. A colleague recommended that she call Sophie Williams, then a Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate who was grateful to take a break from her studio for a week as ‘Camp Sophie’. ‘Camp Sophie’ stayed on with the family helping to stock the fridge, make meals and run errands. Even after she went back to school to do a Masters in textile design she would drop in during the day to do some magic around the house.

As soon as she graduated, Williams began to work full time for a boutique commercial

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