How porcelain tile is made. Italian Edition!
Along with a small contingent of developers and designers, Context was recently a guest of Olympia Tile in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy – otherwise known as the home of Ferraris, Bolognese and Porcelain Tile!
Porcelain tile is the primary type of floor and wall tile that we use in the foyers, kitchens and bathrooms of our condominium suites. The tile is harder and more durable than ceramic or most natural stones and offers greater design flexibility with colours, textures and finishes. The purpose of the trip was to visit the factories and showrooms of the leading porcelain tile manufacturers and learn how the tile is made, view the new lines and assess trends that will be emerging in the market place.
Porcelain is made from raw materials such as clay based minerals, glass, feldspar, silica and quartz that are crushed together into a fine granular mix.
Once mixed, they are formed and pressed into the desired tile sizes and then briefly bisque fired (heated at a low temperature) to give it a semi hardened state. From here, the tiles are then glazed to give them the chosen appearance such as a natural stone look, colour, texture or graphic on the surface. In many cases this is done by large format laser printing on the surface of the tile.
Once the design has been applied, the tiles are then sent into a large kiln (often several hundred feet long) to be fired at a variety of temperatures up to 1200 degrees Celsius. Upon exiting the kiln, the tiles begin their cooling process prior to being packaged, shipped across the Atlantic and installed in your kitchen and bathroom.
During the trip, two clear trends became apparent as the European market place is beginning to demand larger tile sizes and increased textures and graphic features. Traditionally, our market place was accustomed to 12” x 12” tiles that has more recently moved onto 12” x 24” and 24” x 24” as the preferred sizes. Increasingly, the sizes are growing to include 36” x 36”, 24” x 48”, and 48”” x 48” and larger. Additionally, porcelain slabs are now being produced in greater numbers and are overtaking natural stone slabs as counter top surfaces as well as custom wall slabs for fireplaces, bathrooms and feature walls.
A special grazie to Olympia Tile for their wonderful hospitality!
Construction in phase one at Yorkdale Condominiums is moving along as the project is now above grade.
We are currently pouring walls and columns to the second floor and you can begin to see the concrete structure form on the Ranee Avenue side of the site.
With regards to phase two, the City of Toronto is currently undertaking the servicing on Varna Avenue, which includes water, sewer, sanitary and road work. A portion of this work needs to be complete before the shoring and pilling can begin. We are anticipating a construction start in late June or early July.
For those who are on Twitter you might like to follow us @HelloContext where at times we post construction views and brief updates – https://twitter.com/HelloContext
Today is the first in what will be an ongoing series of features on design. Being in the real estate development business, we at Context tend to spend most of our time focused on architecture, urban planning, landscape and interior design. That being said, our corporate philosophy and mantra is “Different by Design” and we thought we would bring this approach to this new series and start with a subject completely unrelated to our everyday business.
Steve Jobs once said “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” Apropos of that, our inaugural subject on Different by Design is the Omega Speedmaster Professional “Moon Reference”. In a world filled with Rolexes, Apple Watches and endless horological options for ones wrist, the Omega Speedmaster Professional or “Speedy” to its legions of fans, stands out as a beautiful piece of design and engineering with a rich history of out of this world performance and exploration.
The Speedmaster has changed little in appearance since it was first introduced in 1957. Originally designed as a chronograph for measuring time in sports and racing, the genesis of the “moon reference” came in the 1960’s when NASA decided to qualify every piece of equipment that would accompany the first astronauts into space.
Tested in 1965 with violent shocks, extreme temperature fluctuations, vibrations, and humidity, the Speedmaster outperformed other brands such as Rolex and Longines. NASA also requested that the crystal be “hesalite” instead of the normal sapphire as when shattered, hesalite (acrylic) does not break into tiny fragments unlike the sapphire – something that could be very hazardous in a zero gravity environment. The result was a certification as “flight qualified by NASA for all manned Space Missions”, a statement that all Speedmasters wear proudly engraved on their case backs.
The most important piece of the Speedmaster, as with all watches, is what’s inside. The Speedmaster features a legendary Lemania 1861 self-winding movement which unlike automatic (self-winding) or quartz watches requires the wearer to manually wind it up to function. At the time of development, automatic chronographs and quartz watches were still being developed and there was thinking that a manually wound watch might work better in zero gravity and provide the accuracy that the astronauts would need in space. A famous example of this occurred in Apollo 13 and was portrayed in the film right after the “Houston, We’ve had a Problem” moment. With the Service Module badly damaged by the explosion in the oxygen system and the electrical systems turned off to save power, astronaut Jack Swigert used his Speedmaster to accurately time the course correction burn while Jim Lovell and Fred Haise piloted the craft safely back to earth.
Whether you are attracted to its design, engineering, movement, history, or you just really like the movie, the Omega Speedmaster Professional is an excellent time piece for your wrist and watch collection. And it might just save your life someday if you’re stranded in space and don’t have Mr. Tom Hanks around to help.
For more on the Omega Speedmaster Professional, visit: www.omegawatches.com/watches/speedmaster/moonwatch/professional
www.hodinkee.com/articles/understanding-the-omega-speedmaster-professional
Toronto is at the top of the list in the newly released Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants. The number one spot goes to Alo, the elegant modern French spot tucked away on the 3rd floor at south east corner of Spadina Avenue and Queen Street West. www.alorestaurant.com
This is the first time that a Toronto restaurant has been crowned number one and taken over Montreal for top honours. Overall, 5 of the top 10 spots went to local restaurants. Joining Alo in the top ten is seasonally inspired Edulis at #5 – www.edulisrestaurant.com
Modern Italian/seafood centric Buca Yorkville at #7 – www.buca.ca/yorkville
Canadian oriented and sky high power lunch stalwart Canoe at #8 – www.canoerestaurant.com
And the casual vegetable focused Dandylion at #9 – www.restaurantdandylion.com
Toronto had a total of 24 of the top 100 restaurants and also featured the likes of Spanish influenced Bar Isabel, French inspired Chinese DaiLo, the Roman cuisine of Enoteca Sociale, French Brasserie Café Boulud, and fine dining classic Scaramouche. For more on these restaurants and to peruse the complete list, visit www.canadas100best.com Happy dining Toronto!
Here are a few of the many spiced up boutiques at Yorkdale Mall celebrating love day!
We’ll let the photos speak for themselves…
Jimmy Choo
Aldo
Tiffany & Co.
Zara
Prada
Indigo Chapters
Kate Spade
Stuart Weitzman
Roots
Tesla
bebe
Holt Renfrew
Godiva
Have a happy Valentine’s Day from all of us at Context!
Calling all designers, future designers, renovators and all round design aficionados, the Toronto Interior Design Show (IDS) is coming up next week at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Whether you are looking for the latest kitchen and bath trends, appliances, hardwood, tile, or just want to check out some of the over-the-top booth designs and expert key note speakers – the IDS is not to be missed!
There is something for everyone’s taste at IDS and it is a great opportunity to see what home and décor trends are going to be hitting the market in 2017 before they reach the magazines and stores.
The party kicks off on Thursday, January 19th, with trade day on Friday, January 20th and opens to the public on Saturday, January 21st and Sunday, January 22nd. Admission for the public on the weekend can be purchased on line at http://www.toronto.interiordesignshow.com for $19 per person or for $22 at the door.
A word of warning, IDS can be quite frenetic so why not make a day of it and visit the Ritz Carlton (http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/hotels/canada/toronto ) across the street for a pre-show nutritious brunch at TOCA (http://www.tocarestaurant.com ) or a post-show much needed relaxing cocktail at the Ritz Bar or DEQ Lounge.
IDS only pops up for one weekend a year so don’t miss out!
Image credits:
Feature photo by Nick Lee – http://www.bestoftoronto.net
2 by Azure Magazine – http://www.azuremagazine.com
3 by Homedit – http://www.homedit.com
4 by Thom Fougere – http://www.thomfougere.com
If you’ve been up around Yorkdale lately you will have noticed there’s been a lot of excitement and development going on. Not only at the shopping centre, but also at The Yorkdale Condominiums! This project is the first phase in the 100-acre master planned community just south of the shopping mall. The 15-storey condo will be a gem in the neighbourhood, adding to the already thriving area. We’ve reached some exciting construction milestones, and thought an update might be the perfect holiday gift to our purchasers and followers.
The month of December is notoriously busy. Not only are you trying to wrap up any loose ends at the office before the year’s end, but your social calendar is typically booked to the brim. There’s something about the holiday season that makes everyone want to get together with friends – old and new! The festive spirit is contagious, and the reasons to celebrate and reminisce are plentiful. Once the holiday season ‘properly’ starts, family commitments come into play, so it’s important to get all of your holiday rendezvous coordinated ASAP. The city is full of places to meet up with friends during the holidays, but these are our top picks for spots to grab a drink this season!
There are certain people on your holiday shopping list that are really difficult to buy for, such as your friend who is starkly against consumerism, or in contrast, your sister who has extremely specific (and expensive) taste. Then there are the people on your list who make your life easy, such as the bookworms. If any of the loved ones you’re buying for love to curl up with a good book, the hunt for their gift will be extremely simple. All you have to do is peruse the best seller list and think of cozy additions to a good reading session to make them happy! Check out these great reads, and cozy bookworm accessories to get for the bookworm in your life.
