Bon voyage, inabstracto

The weekly micro-decorating newsletter * Issue 7 of 13, SS24 *
Subscribe free *

Toronto's design community is in mourning this month, because one of the best vintage stores in the city is closing. While it's not a final goodbye – there are plans in the works for a new location– it's still the end of an era. West Queen West won't be the same without Kate and Julie's taste-defining outpost of mid-century furniture and objects.

A store like this is more than a place to buy stuff. It's a museum without the intimidation factor, where you can pick up design knowledge just by looking around and striking up a conversation. The emphasis on Canadian products means that a typical visit becomes a low-key exercise in patriotism.

Inabstracto's street presence is essential to its charm. The window displays flanking the front door are home to unusual mixes of art, furniture, and objects that can stop you in your tracks with their daring collisions. At a time when Toronto is becoming a city of identical retail strips in every neighbourhood, encountering inabstracto is like meeting a real live person in a row of faceless mannequins.

It was inevitable that finds from inabstracto were a regular part of this newsletter. Let's look back. A molded plywood chair, photographed in the shop, appeared in this piece about accepting life's everyday flaws:

A patio furniture classic was the star of this article about maximizing your summer:

Some tops by Toronto-based designer Tahir Mahmoud headed up this piece about toys for grown-ups:

And a sleek mid-century vase illustrated this story about how I acquired my very first design object:

Our city is dotted with homes changed by discoveries made at 1160 Queen Street West. In a way, the store is more than a single location, it's a map, like an airline's diagram of flight routes, with objects in place of planes.

My last visit was this past Saturday. And of course I ran into something that seemed to be waiting for me, even though the closing sale had already been going for a while, an ashtray from Norway made to accommodate pipes:

Kate threw in an actual pipe for good measure, a gesture typical of the kind customer interactions that make this place unique.

You still have your own chance, until July 31, to visit this storied venue and find something that's been waiting for you. Get yourself over to the shop, pronto, before it closes its doors. You can peek at the sale items before going in person.

In the meantime, bon voyage inabstracto! Hope to see you again soon at your next destination.

Thank you for reading.