Lovin’ her designs on Queen
Opening a storefront is a long time dream come true for Christine Flynn
An east-end designer has come back home, in a manner of speaking, with the March 4 opening of her first street-level store, Love the Design.
Greektown-area resident Christine Flynn had a space under the same name on Queen Street West in 2009 and after closing that has been operating out of Quince Flowers at Broadview Avenue and Queen Street East for the last year or so.
Flynn’s gradual move eastward was part of a three-year process looking for an appropriate space in Riverside and Leslieville, she says.
Her new store, located at 1362 Queen St. East near Greenwood Avenue, has a different focus than her previous concept, Flynn says, which was more of a gallery featuring the artwork she’s been doing for the last two years — large-scale works of her own photography coated with resin.
The focus of the new space is still her art, but it has more of a retail design focus, with new and repurposed furniture, home accessories, lighting and stationery thrown into the mix.
“It’s always been a long-time dream of mine to have my own store,” Flynn says.
A graphic designer by trade who studied design and photography in school, Flynn also creates custom wedding invitations and stationery (samples viewable, along with her artwork, at her website).
In the next few months she says she’ll be introducing her own stationery collection to the store to add to the other lines she’s already stocking.
The move away from the gallery concept can help people see how artwork could look in their homes, Flynn suggests.
“A lot of times you walk into a gallery and it’s stark and white,” she says.
“Here you can see how (the art) relates to the furniture.”
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