Jonathan Elias and Justin Veiga, the duo behind the Dundas West menswear boutique Lost and Found, were beginning to feel stagnant. They didn’t want to expand their brand, but they were itching to tackle a new challenge, a new neighbourhood, a new concept.
This past February, Elias and Veiga wrangled a pair of long-time Lost and Found customers — Paul Shkordoff and Michael Fong — to join them in their new scheme. The foursome set out to find the ideal venue for a new menswear store, Working Title, which would sell high end clothing, art books and hard-to-find magazines; it would also have a gallery component. (Although, unlike Lost and Found, the new multifaceted venture does not have a café aspect — at least not yet.)
At first they looked around Rosedale, but the pickings were slim, so they opted for a two-story midtown spot, and the new shop opened earlier this month. It’s a good fit, because although they are near Yorkville — a nabe that boasts the fat-wallet toting clientele that can afford a $48 candle — they are outside the grips of Yorkville proper, which allows them some freedom from catering solely to the stodgy upper crust crowd.
“We’re not dealing with the heavy foot traffic, so we need to do something a little bit different to give people a reason to walk the five minutes north,” explains Elias, turning a potential downside of the location into an upside.
When you walk into the large, sun-drenched room, the intoxicating smell of Sicilian lemon, calla lily and mint hits you immediately. The redolence is coming from a single Jiya Studios candle ($48) burning atop the minimalist checkout counter.
The entire room has a Scandinavian elegance about it: a handful of racks with pieces from the likes of Svensson, Patrik Ervell, MHL and Han Kjøbenhavn are tucked against the walls to maximize the open space.
The basement houses a bookstore/art gallery. In order to make the space feel, well, less like a basement, they’ve laid an epoxy on the ground, which has turned the floor a glassy grey that reflects light, keeping the space bright.
Working Title carries a wide gamut of art books from publishers like NY-based Dashwood Books and Norway-based Éditions Du LIC, as well as about 20 magazines that range in focus from culinary arts to surfing. (And yes, there are also fashion mags aplenty!)
The first artist to be exhibited in the space will be Victoria-based photographer Chris Taylor, who will be showing the prints from his published photo essay entitled Life and Times of William Callahan. Taylor went to Austin, Texas for a month to snap intimate shots of now middle-aged lo-fi rocker, Bill Callahan.
Working Title, 126A Davenport Rd., 416-551-1085