About Janette Ewen
Veteran stylist and trend reporter, Janette Ewen’s love of the finer things has always shaped her life. Now she’s spilling industry secrets to help you make life at home sweet. From chic décor to decadent dinner parties—living with style isn’t as expensive as you think.
I recently discovered that soy and style go hand and hand. Confused? I was at first as well. That was until the Soy Bean Growers of Ontario asked me to style a house for the Royal Winter Fair using home building products, furniture and accessories made of soy. Well, I’m a gal who is up for a challenge, so I jumped in.
When I started my product sourcing, I was so thrilled to find a surprisingly large number of companies that incorporate soy (which is, by the way, an environmentally-friendly, sustainable replacement to petroleum oil in many household products). First I was off to Brentwood, where I found a stunning mid-century modern style sofa made with soy foam. Add to that a soy blanket, soy pillows, soy kitchen (made with soy board from kitchen supplier Bamco)…the list of great products went on and on.
However, my favourite items (headboard, office desk, dinning room table, coffee table and mantle) were all the work of Mike Ford and David Benson, designers and founders of Grown Design. These two fellas (who just happen to be super cute and under 30!) combined reclaimed materials, sustainable materials (soy board, adhesive and glazes) and items that otherwise might have gone to the dump (like old coffee sacs) into amazing design pieces. I liked Grown Design’s furniture so much I bought the dining table and coffee table and rumor has it Prince Charles has his eye on the headboard.
If you want to know more about Grown Design, check out their website at www.growndesign.com. I’ll also being doing a trend special on them in January so stay tuned.
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