Today's Interior Design Toronto store spotlight focuses on Post Design Collective, one of Toronto's premier retailers of vintage seating, lighting and home decor accessories

Post Design Collective specializes in a range of high quality, authentic vintage furniture from the Mid-Century era. With most of their pieces being created, designed or manufactured between 1940-1975, they also have traveled from all around the world including, but not limited to, Denmark, Sweden, and North America.

While their primary focus is on Teak, Walnut and Rosewood pieces, Post Design Collective also carries pieces made of fibreglass, enamel, steel and brass.

The principals at Post Design Collective, Amanda + Jp, personally source Post Design Collective’s ever-evolving collection. At any time, their curated collection can include large home furnishings such as: dressers, bed-frames, sideboards, wall units, dining tables and chairs, lounge chairs, desks, etc, while also focusing in on smaller, more versatile items such as lamps, desk chairs, side tables, coffee tables and home decor accessories.

What brands does Post Design Collective represent?

Post Design Collective collects and sources some of the most beautiful and rare pieces from notable designers of the mid-century period. These designers have influenced and changed the way that the world sees and interacts with furniture, bringing the pieces to become an extension of the home, and ultimately, them-self.

These distinguished makers include, but are not limited to, Niels Otto Møller, Charles Pollock, Knoll, Arne Hovmand-Olsen, Grete Jalk, and Arben Italy. Additionally, we have been able to come across pieces by well known Canadian designers including R. Huber & Co., Punch Design, Imperial Furniture Company and Maurer.

It should also be noted that every time Amanda & Jp source a new piece, they try to learn as much about its history and story as possible to pass that information along to its new owner. They believe that there should be a connection between the piece and its new family, and they do their best to please their customers in finding that right partnership.

Outside of the Mid-Century furniture Post Design Collective carries, Amanda & Jp have also been extremely lucky to partner with several local artisans, crafts-people and artists for several photo shoots involving the documentation and staging of our pieces.

These makers have allowed Post Design Collective to use their select pieces as part of a collaboration to showcase what all of their start-ups have to offer. These include Bethanie Kaye (@bethaniekaye), Esme and Fan from Common Goods Studio (@commongoodsstudio), Samuel from Created for the Creator (@createdfor_thecreator) and Ailsa from Pen To Papier (@pentopapier).

Store Locations

Post Design Collective currently operates solely out of their home studio, which is essentially a live-work loft with a large open floor space which they temporarily transform and switch into a showroom, a workshop as well as a photography studio. Post Design Collective is located on the east end of Toronto, in the Riverside/Queen East Design District, right near the Don Valley Parkway and Dundas St East (184 Munro St)

Company History

Amanda & Jp began Post Design Collective on sort of a whim, and never really knew where it would end up. They liked Mid-Century furniture and knew that they wanted to furnish our condo with it. They began looking for pieces in the city and found they were priced out of their budget, with both of them being students. They also found that the farther away from the city that they sourced, the pieces became more interesting and more affordable.

Amanda & Jp continued this process and ended up starting an Instagram to document what they had found.

Fast forward a few months later and they have created and published their website, collaborated with plenty of local makers, and met countless of interesting people that they still keep in contact with today - all while continuing to work full time at architectural firms.

What makes Post Design Collective unique?

In their own words….

In starting Post Design, we had two key rules in mind; One being that we would never sell a piece that we did not love ourselves or put in our own home. Although the majority of these pieces are rare and limited production, it is more important that you enjoy the piece itself and want it to be part of your home, day in and day out. These are not big-Box store pieces, and they need care just as much as your plants do.
The second idea that we wanted to keep in mind was that we wanted to keep our pieces affordable for the everyday person, whether it be a student, newlyweds, or an older couple hoping to find some of the pieces they once owned. This was important to us, as being in the architectural and design field, we had always liked Mid-Century, but had never thought that we would have the opportunity to own any due to the rarity of the pieces, the growing popularity of the mid-century style, and lastly cost of other vendors. We try to pass on those savings to the people who follow us, by offering a range of pieces, large and small, all in varying conditions, so that no matter what the budget, you can find something you love.

What's new in store?

It all really depends! Pieces that come in and become available are based largely on what Post Design Collective is able to source. They continuously have a shifting inventory on site and typically post new pieces once per month (on their IG and website) - similar to a "merch drop". This helps them keep their customers on their toes as to what is coming out next!

Plans for the future

In their own words…..

We love what Post Design has become, and will be continuing with it for the time being. We have both recently been accepted into Master's programs at the schools of our choice, and are looking forward to juggling the tasks of studying and building Post Design simultaneously. We have a few ideas in growing our little mid-century shop, in addition to a few other side projects that we have on the go!