Going all the way

The weekly micro-decorating newsletter * Issue 6 of 13, W25 *
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Eye-catching design is often a matter of taking an idea further than usual. I've been mulling over this principle ever since spotting a unique barbershop in Mimico, on my way home from a recent visit to Bonne Choice. See what you think:

Most barbershops settle for a single striped pole, but this one has four – of the three-dimensional variety alone. They're accompanied by at least five two-dimensional ones, plus an explosion of horizontal, vertical and diagonal stripes set loose from any strict rules. The pattern mutates into chevrons as well, over to the right, and seems ready to engulf the rest of the little strip mall, as soon as no one else is looking. Why do I find this so appealing?

I feel the same excitement on many Métro platforms when visiting Montreal. Surfaces aren't designed to fade into insignificance here. It's not uncommon for tiles to pulsate with Op Art intensity from one side of a station to the other. Waiting is less of a chore when your eyes are entertained by end-to-end dazzle:

It's possible to achieve this all-over effect with a single colour. The shoe department in Holt Renfrew's newly relocated Men's Store is saturated with an opulent shade of blue:

In case you're wondering, the ceiling is part of the phenomenon too. The first time I encountered this space, I gasped and imagined moving in. Forget the shoes, I wanted to try on the colour itself.

Clothing is a lower stakes way to take it to the limit. A few winters back, the women's section at Cos offered this electrifying overcoat:

While everyone else was armouring themselves in black, we were offered an escape hatch: Proclaim yellow to its extreme, and defy the season's colourlessness.

Staircases usually wallow in drab utility, but this outdoor number at Bellwoods Brewery shows what's possible when you push the boundaries:

Collections of objects offer another route to over-the-top appeal. Instead of limiting yourself to a small sensible cluster, why not keep adding until you run out of space? This table at Montreal's Style Labo demonstrates the allure of almost-too-much:

There are certain objects that usually appear solo, clocks for example. So what would happen if you broke with convention and displayed them in a group? This vignette at Zig Zag offers a point of view:

You could keep on top of different time zones, but even if the clocks are all synchronized, by appearing en masse, they make a grand statement.

If there's a moral to this story, it's to cast timidity aside. Love a pattern? Extend it further. Love a colour? Up the chroma. Love an object? Gather more than you thought possible. (Oti the barber is likely nodding in agreement.) By embracing excess, you're also celebrating what makes you irresistibly you.

Thank you for reading.