Français 
Deutsch 
Español 
Italiano Montréal 
Things to see and do
Organise your stay
Designer Montreal :
Nearby tourist sites
Nearby hotels
-
Holiday Inn Express Montreal Centreville from117 CAD
Book -
Days Inn - Montreal Downtown from115 CAD
Book -
Holiday Inn Select Montreal Centre Ville Downtown from117 CAD
Book
Things to do nearby
View 30 activities for MontréalDesigner Montreal
Designer Montreal
Mathilde Giard - 2012-02-14
For the last six years Quebec's largest city has been enjoying its status as one of the "UNESCO Cities of Design", of which there are now eleven worldwide. We pay homage here to its style and the talents of its creators.
On the banks of the St. Lawrence river this winter you’ll find red-dyed raccoon furs, Chapka hats, besace bags, sleeveless jackets ... This collection that’s in vogue in Montreal bears the signature of Mariouche Gagné, a stylist with a name inspired by a song called Jack Monoloy by the Quebecer Gilles Vigneault. Her "eco luxury" brand Harricana, named after the Canadian river, uses nothing but recycled materials. It produces two great national symbols: the plaid shirt - especially her boyfriend’s, “which he sports like a trophy “she jokes - and the fur coat, this fleece which made the the trappers’ fortune during 17th to 19thcenturies." The fathers offered them to their daughters when they turned eighteen. But killing for fur isn’t very cute anymore!'' according to the vivacious young woman. With a determination to let beavers and coyotes live in peace, she transforms second-hand furs into the latest designs. Mariouche Gagné stands out as an ambassador of "Montreal, a city of design". Old notions of the Canadian log cabin have indeed been somewhat reinvented: the largest French-speaking metropolis after Paris became part of the network created by Unesco six years ago. It comprises ten other cities including in Europe - Berlin (Germany), Graz (Austria) and Saint-Etienne (France.) As a sign of the times Montreal’s Museum of Fine Arts held the first ever exhibition devoted to the couturier Jean-Paul Gaultier. Remaining until summer 2011, it then moved on to the United States, Spain and the Netherlands without ever seeing Paris!
A forest of pink trees!
There are more than 25,000 designers who have helped create the city. The convention centre houses a forest of pink trees designed by the Quebec architect Claude Cormier. At the foot of its colourful façade, a sculpture by the artist Jean-Paul Riopelle comes alive at certain times, with displays of flames or mist. A few streets away, in the changing Quartier des Spectacles, the photographer Geneviève Cadieux has installed a giant pair of lips (her mother’s!) on the roof of the Museum of Contemporary Art. "Design has been seen to be an economically favourable factor. It enriches our city with its diverse heritage and its legacy from different cultures, French included" says Marie-Josée Lacroix, the design director at the Office of the City of Montreal. This energetic Quebecer has as much passion for the expansion of the Museum of Fine Arts, entrusted to the Dutchman Rem Koolhaas as she does for the delivery of 400 newly styled bus shelters.
In the trendy Plateau Mont-Royal, Annie Legroulx, a design graduate from UQAM (Université du Quebec a Montreal), exports irresistible hand painted bicycle bells to New York or Tokyo. She set up her studio called "Dringdring" amidst a number of small boutiques where an almost tangible wind of creativity blows. It’s here that you will also find the largest underground city in the world where you’ll encounter stylized perspectives along its 30 km of tunnels. Another cosier place to warm up is the refined Scandinave Les Bains Vieux-Montreal, an elegant spa with a décor of wood and slate. You’ll find these on the banks of the Vieux Port, just a few steps from where, in 1642, fifty French settlers founded Ville-Marie, which was to become Montréal on the grand St. Lawrence river.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Getting There
A forest of pink trees!
There are more than 25,000 designers who have helped create the city. The convention centre houses a forest of pink trees designed by the Quebec architect Claude Cormier. At the foot of its colourful façade, a sculpture by the artist Jean-Paul Riopelle comes alive at certain times, with displays of flames or mist. A few streets away, in the changing Quartier des Spectacles, the photographer Geneviève Cadieux has installed a giant pair of lips (her mother’s!) on the roof of the Museum of Contemporary Art. "Design has been seen to be an economically favourable factor. It enriches our city with its diverse heritage and its legacy from different cultures, French included" says Marie-Josée Lacroix, the design director at the Office of the City of Montreal. This energetic Quebecer has as much passion for the expansion of the Museum of Fine Arts, entrusted to the Dutchman Rem Koolhaas as she does for the delivery of 400 newly styled bus shelters.
In the trendy Plateau Mont-Royal, Annie Legroulx, a design graduate from UQAM (Université du Quebec a Montreal), exports irresistible hand painted bicycle bells to New York or Tokyo. She set up her studio called "Dringdring" amidst a number of small boutiques where an almost tangible wind of creativity blows. It’s here that you will also find the largest underground city in the world where you’ll encounter stylized perspectives along its 30 km of tunnels. Another cosier place to warm up is the refined Scandinave Les Bains Vieux-Montreal, an elegant spa with a décor of wood and slate. You’ll find these on the banks of the Vieux Port, just a few steps from where, in 1642, fifty French settlers founded Ville-Marie, which was to become Montréal on the grand St. Lawrence river.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Getting There
Both Air Canada and British Airways have daily flights from London to Montreal costing from approximately £420.
Where to stay
Hotel Saint-Paul, in a revamped historic building.
355 McGill Street.
Double rooms from £120
www.hotelstpaul.com/fr/
L’Hotel - a renovated former bank building with contemporary paintings by Warhol, Lichtenstein and Miro on its walls.
262 St. Jacques Street West Montreal.
Offers from £75
www.lhotelmontreal.com.
Where to Eat
Le Local, in a former architect's office.
740 William Street.
F Bar, in a minimalist cube.
1485 Jeanne-Mance Street.
Café Holt for its funky sandwiches.
1300 Sherbrooke Street West.
DNA - a more sophisticated eatery.
355 St. Marguerite d'Youville.
Places to shop
Harricana (Mariouche Gagné).
3000 St. Antoine Street West.
Marie Saint Pierre, leading Montreal stylist who dresses Montreal's stars with her wrinkled Japanesefabrics.
2081 Mountain Street.
Denis Gagnon.
170B St. Paul Street West.
Places to relax
Where to stay
Hotel Saint-Paul, in a revamped historic building.
355 McGill Street.
Double rooms from £120
www.hotelstpaul.com/fr/
L’Hotel - a renovated former bank building with contemporary paintings by Warhol, Lichtenstein and Miro on its walls.
262 St. Jacques Street West Montreal.
Offers from £75
www.lhotelmontreal.com.
Where to Eat
Le Local, in a former architect's office.
740 William Street.
F Bar, in a minimalist cube.
1485 Jeanne-Mance Street.
Café Holt for its funky sandwiches.
1300 Sherbrooke Street West.
DNA - a more sophisticated eatery.
355 St. Marguerite d'Youville.
Places to shop
Harricana (Mariouche Gagné).
3000 St. Antoine Street West.
Marie Saint Pierre, leading Montreal stylist who dresses Montreal's stars with her wrinkled Japanesefabrics.
2081 Mountain Street.
Denis Gagnon.
170B St. Paul Street West.
Places to relax
In the refined and simple Scandinave Les Bains, Vieux-Montreal, 71 rue de la Commune West.
Taking a coffee break
Taking a coffee break
At the trendy Olive et Gourmando, St. Paul Street West.
More
