The CaféTO program began as a quick-start pandemic response in the summer of 2020 for Toronto’s main street restaurants and bars. The idea was to set up temporary, safe, and engaging curb lane cafe areas that would serve as an extension of the local restaurants, adding social and economical value to the local neighbourhood.
NAK had sponsored and designed one of the four parklets to be used as curb lane cafe spaces located in the Junction neighbourhood of Toronto.
The Junction Business Improvement Area stretches along Dundas Street West between Indian Grove and Quebec Avenue and is accessible by public transit. For the CaféTO initiative, NAK collaborated with an artist and a woodworking contractor.
The artwork on the panels was done by Mekayla Dionne, an Indigenous Artist, who describes her work as comprised of a variety of organic shapes made of acrylic paint layered on plywood. She notes that “the composition has a sense of movement as the hills bob up and down, and wiggle from side to side, mimicking the bustling movement of the street it will be situated on.”
All the wood work for the furniture and fencing are made of modular units for decking and were prefabricated in Caledon. Andrew Savaglio, the Principal of Fencor Contracting Ltd and his team assembled the pieces on site.
This initiative was an effort to keep the businesses in the community flourishing by providing an opportunity for customers to be served within the COVID-19 restrictions.
