Over one thousand architects and interior designers will flock to Canada’s biggest city tomorrow (17 May) to discover a selection of the new industry products deemed most interesting by a special panel of judges.

The Architect@Work festival was first developed by design collective Creative Fo(u)r for the Kortrijk Xpo exhibition arena in Belgium. The idea was to “strip down the exhibition model to feature only the most cutting edge innovations”.

Over 20 specially tailored one-day events have since been held across 14 European countries, including Germany, Denmark, Sweden and the UK. For every show, a panel of national architects and designers must assess a selection of products; choosing only the ones they find genuinely exciting to be exhibited.

Architect@Work Toronto is the first time the event has been held in North America. It will take place at the Enercare Centre throughout the day, with several seminars on a selection of industry-relevant topics organised in conjunction with the show.

There will be 80 turnkey booths featuring 300 product innovations

“Toronto is the ideal location to open up a totally new market,” said Anne-Laure Van de Ginste, spokesperson for Architect@Work Toronto. “It has the largest design workforce in Canada and the third largest in North America, after New York and Boston.

“We identified that a continuing trend in 2017 is sustainability and nature, so many of this year’s Toronto exhibitors will share their innovations in eco-friendly materials and products – from green and water walls to photo-voltaic panels.”