The King East Design District (KEDD) is stepping out, officially launching itself with a bash as Toronto's premiere centre for art and design, and it's hoping that you will join in the festivities. Taking place this Saturday from 11 AM to 7 PM, the 3d Parti and Design Festival will run from St. James Park along both King and Adelaide Streets to east of Parliament Street, transforming the neighbourhood through 15 storefront installations.

King East Design District Banner, photo by Kim Graham and Associates

The parti will feature installations from a number of local and internationally renowned artists, including Miami-based TYPOE, represented by Spinello Projects. TYPOE,  along with members of the art collective Primary Flight transformed Miami's Wynford neighbourhood—a once downtrodden former garment district turned vibrant art centre—into an open air art gallery through graffiti murals. TYPOE will present his first Canadian work at bulthaup at King and Ontario streets.

TYPOE's Fountain Triptych, image courtesy of Spinello Projects

Also showing at bulthaup is illustrator Gary Taxali, whose works have appeared in GQ, Esquire and the New York Times, among other publications. Taxali will also present his installation, a pyramid of dynamic stacked laser cubes, at DOM on Berkeley. Nearby at the intersection of Berkeley and King, Toronto artist Thrush Holmes, one of Canada's top-selling living artists, will be unveiling a large 10'x10' installation that will stay on as a public artwork after the festival has wrapped up. Holmes is a self-taught artist whose work has been exhibited across Canada and the U.S. and is in the permanent holdings of the Government of Ontario and Defjam Records

Heart Mountain, image courtesy of Thrush Holmes

Another artist to look forward to is Pascal Paquette. Some may know him for the landmark chair that he painted on the side of Klaus. Paquette is a multi disciplined artist who has worked in different media ranging from film to canvas. His work has been shown at a variety of Toronto art institutions as well as internationally, including in Cape Town, South Africa and Brussels, Belgium. Last week Paquette teamed up with the AGO to create an Instagram tour of the city's street art for the gallery's #AGOfieldtrip project. His installation at this year's festival, featuring "punchy vitrail on white vinyl" will be exhibited at AVEDA. The work is part of the artist's continuing project to deconstruct the notion that the viewer-art relationship must be a formal one and to demonstrate this Paquette will engage with festival-goers by distributing lemonade to his audience.

Street art on Camden for the AGO's #AGOfieldtrip, image by Pascal Paquette

Pascal Paquette's Chair mural at Klaus, image courtesy of Rachel Simpson

RAW and The Design Agency, the latter of whom is pairing up with internationally known photography duo Saty+Pratha, are both creating installations with sensory experiences for attendees. RAW's installation is an arch of life-sized chairs housed at Calligaris, while The Design Agency has chosen to create a video installation that creates a stream of consciousness through mixed media.

Art aside, attendees will be treated to Mangia & Bevi's Pizza and are asked to make a donation which will go to the GTA Habitat for Humanity. This festival, along with the relocation of the Globe and Mail to KEDD and the area's strong design presence, are all reasons to keep our eyes trained on King East.

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