Top 10 Canadian Interior Designers You Need To Know

First up is award-winning Canadian designer Amanda Hamilton. Her reputation for her vivacious personality and high energy is mirrored in her approach to interior design. Bold and highly unconventional she’s given herself a name as one of the most sought-after creatives in the whole of Western Canada.

Besides her impressive portfolio of both residential and commercial spaces, she scores highly on the design education front too with a BA in Applied Interior Design, and has become a LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Accredited Professional.

Amanda is also a passionate supporter of career development in young women and holds a mentor position with the Harry G. Schaefer Mentorship Program.

Next on our list of the top Canadian interior designers is Beyond Beige. One of its biggest plus points, says its clients, is that they pose the question that many designers overlook – why do you want to renovate? By asking this rather than purely open lifestyle-related queries, it allows its designers to understand the heart and head mentality behind client projects.

Founded by Reisa Pollard who has spent close to two decades in the industry and designed hundreds of homes, hotels and hospitality outlets, she’s built a seven-strong, all-women studio of designers, AutoCAD technicians and project managers, taking her brand from strength to strength.

Turn to the careers section of Toronto-based interior designer Burdifilek and you’ll find that it describes itself as being a ‘fast-paced, progressive, highly creative interior design firm with a roster of global clients’. It’s a summary that describes the practice to perfection.

Creativity is evidenced from the moment you land on its studio website, where you could mistake it for that of an art gallery or high fashion house. Burdifilek truly let their high-octane projects speak for themselves.

LuxDeco 100 honoree and big on the Toronto interior design scene. Elizabeth Metcalfe's work is concentrated on a clear niche, that of luxury, private residences, which are always elegant yet supremely comfortable.

The past three years have seen her scoop up multiple international accolades and these combined with experience spanning two decades have firmly put her in the upper echelons of the design community. But one of the most distinctive aspects to Elizabeth Metcalfe’s work is its quiet confidence.

She works with clients who seek appreciation for beauty, respect for thoughtfulness and a love for quality, and her resulting schemes exude sophistication, restraint and an interplay between classicism and modern silhouettes.

Ferris Rafauli’s brings a glamorous, indulgent steak to Canadian interiors and is often referred to as a ‘creator of luxury’ as well as an architectural designer in many magazines.

He’s one of the most famous Canadian interior designers because of his work with a number of high-profile names, such as musician Drake whose 50,000-square-foot home was built and designed entirely by Rafauli. So pleased Drake was with the project, he asked the designer to create a second project for him, that of his private champagne suite, The Sher Club.

Rafauli’s signature aesthetic is about the finer things, obvious opulence, sensual materials and textures and a love of Art Deco-inspired design.

Slightly traditional but with a graceful, visual lightness to the finished scheme, Laura Stein’s portfolio shows a plethora of meticulously designed homes exhibiting refined functionality.

She enjoys layering luxurious materials, weaving in custom finishes and bespoke items of furniture, sourcing the occasional antique and approaching every project with a boundary-pushing mindset.

Manson Studio contributes artistic flair and originality to interior design in Canada. Multi-award-winning, the firm’s interest in art, objects, graphics and technology is a rare combination, which has carved them a very specific, specialist niche.

Less residential, Manson Studio’s projects tend to be in the hospitality arena with hotels, restaurants and retail outlets being its main stomping ground, including its most recent Kimpton Saint George hotel in Toronto that pays unexpected homage to the city’s albino squirrels. Additionally, it produces conceptual installations for the global art scene to further fuel the team’s creative output.

Mention interior designers in Vancouver and one of the first (if not the first) to come to mind has to be Patricia Gray.

Her name and brand have a global audience and her credentials are unshakable having attended more than one of the world’s most prestigious design universities – the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Ferrara in Italy and the Parsons School of Design in Paris. She also has the title Feng Shui Practitioner under her belt, granted to her by Harvard and Berkeley in the US.

In addition to her 30+ years of practice and home design for personalities including Jon Travolta, she now produces custom furnishings and original artwork, which she includes in her projects to give them an even higher dose of originality.

Subtle sophistication and warmth is how Sophie Burke Design describes her studio’s style.

Concentrating on private homes and a small number of retail spaces, Sophie Burke Design lets the immediacy of its Pacific Northwest environment inspire its renovations with a raw kind of beauty and affinity with the natural world coming through strongly.

Founder, Sophie Burke has studied and worked in leading interiors brands in London before moving back to Vancouver to set up her own practice. Peruse her portfolio and identify the light, bright and refreshing character that unanimously imbues them all.

Similar to Ferris Rafuli, exaggerated luxury is what first strikes you about the work of Tomas Pearce. Offering an end-to-end service for both commercial and residential projects, its scope is broad and the expertise highly honed.

The Tomas Pearce brand is also well-versed in working in contrasting environments from high-end city condominium developments to private winter vacation chalets and summer ranches.

Ran by principal partners and founders, Melandro Quilatan and Tania Richardson, the dynamic duo share a desire for constant curiosity, celebrating the unusual and doing the unthinkable.