Behind the Build

Goli Basiri is a co-founder and principal designer of Harmen Design, an architecture and interior design studio based in Oakville, Ontario, serving clients across the Greater Toronto Area. Born and raised in Mashhad, Iran, she developed an early sensitivity to the emotional impact of space, shaped by childhood experiences visiting family homes and observing how the environment influences comfort and connection.After completing a bachelor’s degree in physics in Iran in 2008 or 2009, she pursued her original ambition of architecture, earning her degree from Eastern Mediterranean University in Cyprus. In 2014, she immigrated to Canada with her family, first landing in New Brunswick before relocating to Toronto in 2015.She began her Canadian career in high end custom residential construction, coordinating job sites while completing a postgraduate program in Construction Management at George Brown College. She later worked in healthcare design and estimating, navigating building codes across multiple jurisdictions in the United States.In 2018, she and her husband, architect Kia Kazemian, founded Harmen Design. What began with small scale projects grew steadily through referrals and visibility on Instagram, which played a pivotal role in establishing credibility as newcomers to the country. Today, the firm manages approximately 15 to 20 active residential projects at various stages, with a team of six.Goli advocates for a more integrated approach between architecture and interior design, believing interiors should not be layered onto a building after the fact but considered from the earliest stages of planning. Her work reflects both technical rigor and an understanding that space carries emotion. She is also a mother to her daughter, Yara, and protects her early mornings for fitness as a daily reset before work and family life begin.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca⁠⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Brad Abbott is the founder and principal designer of Abbott Design, based in Toronto, Ontario. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he grew up in a family of physicians and was a lifelong sketcher, known in school for being pulled from class to draw murals for community and holiday events. He played hockey and became an avid skier early on, spending weekends in Manitoba’s Pembina River Valley in a quirky ski culture that included converted railway boxcars used as ski cabins.Abbott began university in the sciences with the intention of pursuing medicine, then switched into architecture after being inspired by the studio culture at the University of Manitoba. He completed a Bachelor of Environmental Design and graduated with a gold medal for highest standing. He then moved to Ottawa to complete a Bachelor of Architecture at Carleton University, where he again finished at the top of his class and received an Ontario wide graduating award that included a travel scholarship. That scholarship launched a year of travel and work, including time with an architectural firm in London, England, followed by extensive skiing and backpacking across Europe, and an offshore sailing passage in the Mediterranean aboard a historic 104 foot racing sloop once associated with King Edward VII.He began his professional career in Calgary, later relocating to Toronto, where he worked with Page and Steele Architects and the interior design firm Marshall Cummings and Associates before incorporating his own practice in 1992. His early independent work included houses and additions in Toronto neighborhoods such as Lawrence Park and Moore Park, along with Committee of Adjustment and approvals work. Over time, his ski life and family ties brought him increasingly to Collingwood and Thornbury, where his firm designs a wide range of residential projects from traditional chalet architecture to contemporary glass and steel homes, including work connected to Ontario’s private ski club culture. Abbott keeps his studio intentionally boutique, leading design personally with a small team of three architectural technologists and typically carrying eight to ten projects at a time. Now 70 and semi retired by his own description, he still splits life between Toronto and ski country, often meeting clients on site and skiing with them.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca⁠⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Carly Nemtean is a Toronto born interior designer and entrepreneur, and the co-owner of Carriage Lane Design Build, a residential design and construction firm she has led for more than seventeen years. Her interest in spatial planning began early, through hands on experimentation with building, room layouts, and material changes at home, and later developed into a clear professional path. While still in high school, she completed a co-op placement at Watt IDG in Toronto, working under Andrew Kalitchee on large scale retail projects including SilverCity cinemas and Sobeys locations.Nemtean went on to study interior design at Sheridan College, where she completed an intensive three year program known for its demanding studio culture. During her studies, she focused on residential, retail, and institutional projects, including a final thesis centered on an autism support centre. After graduating, she joined the HGTV Canada series Design Interns, filmed at Ryerson University and Cecconi Simone’s studio, where she competed in a televised design apprenticeship format. The show later became a reference point in her career and is mentioned as a linkable resource for episode liner notes.Following the series, Nemtean spent several years working in design for television and residential renovation, including extensive involvement in HGTV productions such as Love It or List It and Property Brothers. Over approximately five years, she served in senior design roles on dozens of episodes, coordinating fast track renovations that required permitting, construction oversight, and close collaboration with millwork, stone, and construction teams. Many of those television clients later became long term private clients, helping establish Carriage Lane Design Build as a full service residential practice.In 2019, Nemtean co-founded The Collective Workspace in Toronto, a shared studio environment created in response to the growing design community and the industry’s increasing use of Instagram for collaboration and resource sharing. Conceived as a physical extension of those connections, the space offers flexible offices, shared resources, and a materials library for designers, architects, and related professionals.Outside of work, Nemtean prioritizes meditation, reading across news, spiritual, and self development topics, and solo travel, which she views as essential for clarity and long term perspective.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca⁠⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Luigi Ferrara is an architect, urbanist, designer, and design strategist based in Toronto, where he was born and raised in the Downsview area of North York. He is the son of Italian parents from Abruzzo who immigrated to Canada after the Second World War, and he grew up in a close knit extended family community that blended agrarian traditions with postwar industrial life. Early exposure to art, making, and building, combined with formative travel to Italy, strongly influenced his creative path.Luigi studied architecture at the University of Toronto, where he developed a deep interest in the social and cultural dimensions of the built environment. Beginning at age fourteen, he worked for a decade at the Art Gallery of Ontario in its audiovisual and film programming, gaining early exposure to international cinema and cultural production. He later worked in architectural practice in Toronto, including with Peter Turner, and co-founded an architectural firm with his partner, Monica Contreras.His career expanded into design leadership and systems innovation through senior roles at the Design Exchange, where he helped advance interdisciplinary collaboration and early digital platforms for remote design work. Luigi went on to serve for over two decades at George Brown College, including as Dean of the Centre for Arts, Design and Information Technology. There, he led the creation and expansion of programs across design, media, and technology, and directed the Institute without Boundaries, known internationally for its collaborative, charrette based approach to addressing complex social, environmental, and urban challenges.Luigi has held global leadership roles with the World Design Organization, including serving as President, and is currently a Senator of the organization. He is the CEO of Conifer Futures Group, where he focuses on addressing interconnected global challenges including housing affordability, sustainability, social cohesion, and education. Alongside his professional work, Luigi maintains a personal creative practice that includes drawing, poetry, and long form writing.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Aquanta PoolsTo connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Brooke Michelsen is an interior designer and the founder of Brooke Michelsen Design, based in Vermont. Born and raised in southern Vermont, she grew up in Manchester and later Dorset, where she spent her childhood immersed in the outdoors. She is the third of four children, with two older sisters and a younger brother. Her early life was shaped by a strong connection to nature, including cross country skiing, hiking, maple sugaring, and long days spent exploring the woods around her family home.Brooke was exposed to building and design at a young age through her father, who worked as a builder before becoming a full time artist. She spent much of her childhood around active construction sites and evolving homes, an experience that laid an early foundation for her understanding of space, materials, and process. In school, she gravitated toward art, shop class, and athletics, participating in sports such as field hockey, softball, and soccer, while developing a strong interest in hands on creative work.After high school, Brooke pursued a nontraditional path that included studying art in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where she focused on pottery, weaving, oil painting, and Spanish. She later completed a month long National Outdoor Leadership School course in the Absaroka Range of Wyoming, gaining extensive wilderness and leadership training. Following time spent living and snowboarding in California, she completed general education coursework at community colleges before earning a degree in interior design from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles.After graduating at the top of her class, Brooke began her professional career working with an architecture and development firm, relocating from Los Angeles to Park City, Utah to focus on high end residential projects. She later returned to Vermont as an adult, where she established her own interior design practice.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Ludwig Godefroy is a French architect born in Gouville-sur-Mer, a small fishing village of roughly 1,000 inhabitants on the Normandy coast, facing the Atlantic Ocean. Raised in a rural environment shaped by craftsmanship, tides, and the honesty of manual labor, his early life was deeply influenced by place. He later moved to Paris to study architecture and graduated from the École d’Architecture de la Ville et des Territoires à Marne-la-Vallée, a Paris-East school housed in a Bernard Tschumi–designed building, where he was part of the first cohort to occupy the campus.Godefroy’s education was shaped by travel and cultural immersion. After studying in Paris, he lived and worked in London, Philadelphia, and New York. In New York, he interned at Thomas Leeser Architecture, contributing to the Three-Legged Dog Theater project while living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He later trained in Barcelona at EMBT, the studio of Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue, contributing to projects including the Gas Natural headquarters during a period when the office was completing Miralles’ final works. He subsequently joined OMA in Rotterdam, working under Rem Koolhaas during a formative moment for the practice.In 2009, Godefroy relocated to Mexico City to work with Tatiana Bilbao, where he became a project leader and embraced a working culture that entrusted young architects with significant responsibility. In 2011, he established his independent practice. His first built project was the M.N. Roy nightclub in Mexico City, followed by Casa Zicatela in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, completed in 2014. Originally conceived with conventional finishes, Casa Zicatela evolved into a raw concrete and tropical wood structure after exposure to local construction methods and a site visit to Tadao Ando’s Casa Wabi, marking a turning point in his architectural language.Today, Godefroy lives and works in Mexico City, operating a small atelier focused on materially honest, emotionally driven architecture. His work spans residential, cultural, and hospitality projects across Mexico and internationally, with ongoing and recent projects in Japan, Alaska, Paraguay, Bali, and the Philippines. His architecture is widely recognized for its sculptural use of concrete, spatial restraint, and deep engagement with place, and is frequently encountered through architectural publications and on Instagram.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Aquanta Pools⁠⁠⁠ To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Meg Cassidy is a Toronto based interior designer and the founder of Studio Meg Cassidy, which she established in 2017. She grew up in Waterloo, Ontario, in a family shaped by both academic and entrepreneurial influences. Her father played professional hockey before becoming a teacher, and her mother owned a modeling agency. Cassidy was a competitive dancer for 13 years, attended an arts focused high school for Grades 9 and 10 where she studied dance and drama, and developed an early interest in writing, history, and creative expression.She earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and was accepted to a master’s program in communications in Australia, but instead moved from Waterloo to Toronto after taking a role in experiential marketing. Over more than a decade, she built a senior career across agency and client side roles, developing expertise in client service, communication, project management, and budget control.After completing small freelance projects for friends and documenting home renovations through blogging and social platforms, Cassidy transitioned into full time practice. Her early work focused on decorating and furnishings, later evolving into comprehensive interior design for renovations and new builds. She built her studio around strong technical support and is known for producing highly detailed documentation packages that support builders and reduce ambiguity during construction.Her work includes new builds as well as complex apartment and home renovations across Toronto and the United States, with projects in New York City, California, and beyond. Much of this cross border work developed organically through social media and client referrals, particularly during the shift toward remote collaboration.Cassidy was named to a global top 20 under 40 designers list within two years of founding her firm. She prioritizes long term client relationships, close collaboration with builders, and interiors that reflect the people who live in them rather than a fixed signature style.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca⁠⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Anya Moryoussef is an architect based in Toronto, where she was born and raised. She is the child of immigrant parents, with her mother arriving from South Africa and her father from Morocco in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Growing up, she was deeply introspective and drawn to solitary creative pursuits, including drawing, making objects, and extended imaginative play. Her early interest in art was shaped by her mother, a trained sculptor, and a broader family connection to visual art.Moryoussef attended high school in Toronto, where she was encouraged by her art teacher, Marilyn Berkovich, to apply to the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. She applied exclusively to Waterloo and was accepted, with a secondary plan to study physics and art history at the University of Toronto. At Waterloo, she developed a strong interest in cultural history and theory, particularly through coursework in iconography, which reframed her understanding of history and abstraction.During her architectural education, she completed multiple co op work terms that took her abroad for extended periods, including living and working in London and Istanbul. After graduating, she returned to England for three additional years before settling back in Toronto. She joined Superkül when it was a small studio and worked there for approximately five years, gaining intensive experience in construction documentation, detailing, and project delivery through close mentorship.Moryoussef established her own practice in 2016. Her work focuses primarily on single family residential architecture, guided by long term client relationships and an interest in the domestic scale. Her projects are located across Toronto, the GTA, and regions including Georgian Bay, Algonquin, and Mulmur.Her work has been widely recognized. She is the recipient of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Emerging Architect Award, has received multiple RAIC medals, and has been recognized by the Ontario Association of Architects. Her practice has been featured in Wallpaper* magazine’s Architects Directory, AN Interior’s Top 50 Architects and Designers, and the Twenty + Change Emerging Talent program.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠Aquanta Pools⁠⁠ To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Dyonne Fashina is the founder of Denizens of Design, a Toronto based interior design practice working across hospitality, commercial, and cultural projects. She grew up in Hockley Valley, just north of Orangeville, on a seven acre property with a creek connected to the Nottawasaga River. Her earliest creative experiences came from working with clay found along the creek, forming objects by hand, which established a lasting connection to materiality and making.Fashina pursued art from a young age, including weekly watercolour classes beginning at age twelve, and that medium continues to inform her work today. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts at Western University before earning her interior design degree at Ryerson University, now Toronto Metropolitan University. While in school, she worked at Fleur de Lis, developing a strong foundation in millwork and detailing, and later held roles at Retail Environments, Stantec, and Quadrangle.After navigating layoffs early in her career, she set out to build her own stability and began working independently. Her first major commission was a one hundred suite hotel in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Since then, her practice has grown through long standing relationships and direct outreach. Denizens of Design is known for a collaborative model that brings together architects, engineers, fabricators, and makers as needed. The studio operates from a shared workspace with architect Paul Raff, fostering cross disciplinary exchange.Her work with the Food Dudes includes cultural and museum dining projects at the Gardiner Museum, the McMichael, the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Evergreen Brick Works, and the Alton Mill Arts Centre, where she has helped develop flexible hospitality environments that support both daily use and events. Outside of practice, she is an avid traveler and lifelong musician who sings regularly at karaoke. She has also referenced a childhood photo, often shared on Instagram Stories, showing her in a bright green snowsuit while supervising her brother’s early building projects.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Aquanta Pools⁠⁠⁠ To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Stefano Pujatti is an Italian architect and designer, born in Budoia near Pordenone in northeastern Italy, north of Venice. He grew up in a rural environment close to a NATO base, an experience that exposed him early to international culture and different perspectives. From a young age he was drawn to construction, farming, and horses, beginning to ride early and maintaining a lifelong connection to horsemanship.He studied architecture in Venice, where he was educated within one of Europe’s most rigorous academic environments, and later completed a master’s degree at the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles. His education placed him in contact with influential figures and movements shaping late twentieth century architecture, including deconstructivist practices and frequent lectures and reviews by architects such as Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid. These experiences shifted his approach toward physical experimentation, model making, and a direct engagement with form and space.Early in his career he worked in Los Angeles, including model work connected to Gehry’s office, before returning to Europe to work with Professor Gino Valle. He later established his own practice, ElasticoSPA (ElasticoFARM online) taking on public commissions at a young age, including cemetery and crematorium projects that were built early and helped define his professional trajectory. His work has ranged from landscape integrated public projects to housing, industrial buildings, and interior and product design.Based in Torino, he has also maintained a long standing professional presence in Toronto since 2014. During this period he taught for two semesters at the University of Toronto and completed early Canadian work such as the York Marble offices. His practice continues to operate across Italy and Canada, shaped by a belief that design is a way of thinking rather than a fixed scale or typology, and by a strong sense of responsibility toward clients and collaborators who place their trust in his work.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Aquanta Pools⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Ashley Botten is a Toronto based interior designer and the founder of Ashley Botten Design. Raised in Toronto’s Lawrence Park neighbourhood, her earliest connection to design began in childhood through an intuitive relationship with space, furniture arrangement, and atmosphere. That sensitivity was shaped by time spent rearranging her bedroom, careful attention to objects and materials, and frequent exposure to hotels through her father’s career in the hotel industry, which began with Four Seasons. Early experiences at landmark Toronto properties, including the Inn on the Park, further influenced her appreciation for hospitality, environment, and spatial feeling.During her teenage years, Botten lived in Boston’s Wellesley Hills while attending high school. Entering a small community at grade nine, the experience challenged her sense of identity and social belonging, while also expanding her understanding of cities, culture, and place. She returned to Toronto for grade eleven, maintaining strong ties to the city while developing a growing interest in fashion, styling, and personal expression through clothing.After high school, she drove across Canada and spent a winter skiing in Whistler before relocating to Vancouver, where she worked at Benetton. In her early twenties, she returned to Toronto to formally study interior design at the Academy of Merchandising and Design, completing the program part time while working. There, she discovered a strong connection to the technical aspects of design, including space planning, proportion, scale, and code, which became foundational to her practice.Her early professional career included hospitality focused work and a formative period in television production with HGTV, contributing to shows including Savoir Faire, Room Service, and Design Inc. In 2008, she founded Ashley Botten Design, initially focusing on furniture based projects before expanding into full scale residential interiors. Her practice grew through long standing client relationships and word of mouth referrals, leading to projects across Canada, the United States, and Europe. Alongside interiors, furniture continues to play a central role in her work, shaping the language and identity of the studio.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Aquanta Pools⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Robert Micacchi is an architect from Woodstock, Ontario, and the founder of Micacchi Architecture, based in Toronto. The son of an engineer in the forestry equipment industry and a kindergarten teacher, he was drawing floor plans from an early age, inspired by technical drawings brought home from work and by the modernist home of a local architect in his neighbourhood. With Italian family roots and a nonna who encouraged his sense of craft and elegance, he stayed focused on architecture through school.He completed his architectural education at the University of Waterloo, drawn to the program for its co op structure and a term in Italy. Micacchi’s early career combined work terms with office experience in London, England, and later roles at Architects Alliance, KPMB, Diamond Schmitt, and Hotson Bakker Boniface Haden Architects and Urbanists, as well as formative years with Prish Jain at Tact. His thesis explored mid rise housing and the forces that shape cities, from policy to economics. Before launching his own studio, he sought guidance from mentors including Steven Teeple and Richard Wengle.Since establishing his practice, Micacchi has led projects that range from house renovations and new builds to the repositioning of older apartment buildings by adding new units. One of his early independent projects moved from renovation to a full rebuild, navigating a Committee of Adjustment approval with extensive variances and neighbourhood support. His work also includes an administration building in Turkey developed for a large factory campus, featuring courtyards, expansive glazing, and a custom stone facade system. Today, he leads a team of six and continues to pursue housing typologies that balance proven performance with elegance. His work is also shared visually on Instagram.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Aquanta Pools⁠⁠⁠⁠ To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca⁠⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Tommy Smythe is a Toronto born interior designer and former television host whose work is defined by authenticity, personal narrative, and a deep belief in the power of environment to shape daily life. Raised in Toronto, he spent his school years in the city, summers in the Muskoka Lakes, and winter holidays largely in Palm Beach, experiences that exposed him early to contrasting lifestyles, architecture, and cultural rhythms. Encouraged by his mother to pursue creative outlets and influenced by his grandmother, a Toronto interior designer who trained in New York later in life, Smythe was designing his own bedroom by age eight, selecting wallpaper, fabrics, lighting, and furniture that foreshadowed the work he would later become known for.In the early 1990s, he moved to London on a working holiday permit, beginning his career in television as a production secretary on Ring My Bell, the first British phone in chat show, produced by World of Wonder. Living in Brixton during a formative cultural moment shaped by the height of the AIDS crisis, Smythe was immersed in a creative community that demonstrated how art, design, and media could be lived professions. He returned to Toronto when his father became ill and worked in hospitality at the CN Tower during its transition to fine dining, refining a service driven sensibility that would later define his client relationships.Smythe pursued hands on mentorship rather than formal design education, training under Youssef Hasbani of L’Atelier and learning the art of mixing periods, materials, and styles. He later worked with Sarah Richardson in a collaboration that brought him into the public eye and connected his design philosophy with international audiences. After a second chapter in television supported by Marilyn Denis, he stepped away from broadcasting in 2020 and co founded TOM Design Collective with Lindsay Mens and Kate Stuart. Based in Liberty Village, the studio operates as a collaborative, non figurehead practice focused on longevity, integrity, and creating homes that genuinely reflect the people who inhabit them.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Aquanta Pools⁠⁠⁠ To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Brad Bradford is a Toronto city councillor and an urban planner by training. He grew up in suburban Hamilton, raised by his single mother alongside two siblings, and later moved to Hespeler, a community within Cambridge, Ontario, where he finished high school. An active kid, he spent much of his childhood figure skating at the Dave Andreychuk Mountain Arena and Skating Centre, training and competing at a high level. He also played rugby, including at the University of Guelph and with club teams.Brad describes himself as an unfocused high school student who barely made it into university before finding confidence and academic momentum once he applied himself. He studied environmental studies and completed an internship at the Canadian Urban Institute while attending York University. He later earned a scholarship to pursue graduate studies in urban planning at the University of Waterloo, where he was part of a small cohort and served as president of the Canadian Association of Planning Students. During that time, he helped organize a national student conference in Waterloo, where he met architect Craig Applegath, who became a long term mentor.He began his professional career at DIALOG, working in a multidisciplinary environment and contributing to planning projects across Canada. His graduate research focused on how land use decisions shape community energy demand, with an emphasis on district energy. That work led him to Boston, where he spent roughly three years working in district energy policy and traveling internationally, including to Dubai.Brad later returned to Toronto to work in municipal government in the office of chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat. That experience led him to enter elected office, and he now represents Beaches-East York on Toronto City Council. He has said he plans to run for mayor in 2026.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Aquanta Pools⁠⁠⁠ To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Jessica Nakanishi and Jonathan Sabine are the founders and principals of MSDS Studio, a Toronto based multidisciplinary design practice working across interiors, furniture, lighting, and product design. Jessica grew up in Mississauga, Ontario, and traces her early material curiosity to building alongside her father in millwork settings. She later worked at the skate shop West 49, where assembling skateboards became an early lesson in parts, tolerance, and hands on construction. Jonathan grew up out west in Canada and was drawn early to drawing, making, and the mechanics of how objects come together, interests that later shaped his studio work.Both studied at Sheridan College, with Jessica in interior design and Jonathan in furniture design and build, and they first knew of each other there before reconnecting in Toronto through overlapping neighborhoods and creative circles. Their practice spans work at the scale of small objects through to large offices and homes, and they have designed during Toronto’s tech office boom, including early work for Shopify. MSDS also develops products for international manufacturers, working in a licensing model and building relationships through exhibitions and design weeks in Toronto and abroad, including presentations in Sweden and work produced with Danish partners.Their work includes Boulevard, a perching oriented seating system developed for +Halle through a brief shared with Form Us With Love and Nick Ross. Outside the studio, Jessica paints and gardens, and that interest has extended into landscape input for residential clients. Jonathan cycles, boxes, and plays chess with their son. During the conversation, they noted sharing process and finished work online, including references to Instagram, and Jessica referenced a painting based on a photograph she took during a visit to Hancock Shaker Village, which was discussed in connection with liner notes.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠Aquanta Pools⁠⁠ To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Jon Cummings is a Toronto based architect and educator who grew up in the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario. After early interests in drawing, painting, sculpture, and ceramics, his path toward architecture deepened through travel and close study of the built environment, including formative time in Italy and exposure to historic and contemporary works.He studied architecture at the University of Waterloo, completing multiple co op terms in Canada and abroad, including work experiences in Peterborough, Boston, New York, Dublin, and Toronto, as well as time in Los Angeles at Morphosis. After a solo backpacking trip across Europe, he pursued graduate studies at the University of Toronto and contributed to an architecture exhibition led by professor John McMinn that was installed at the Venice Biennale of Architecture.Cummings spent more than a decade at architects Alliance in Toronto, gaining end to end experience across project phases and building types. In 2021, he founded his own studio, Jon Cummings Architecture, also known as JC A, based in Toronto. His practice focuses on residential work at multiple scales, including renovations, new builds, multiplex housing, and accessory dwelling units, alongside public sector and campus renovation work. He is interested in contemporary architectural language, local sustainable materials, and the expressive potential of structure, mechanical systems, and light as visible parts of how buildings are made.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠Aquanta Pools⁠ To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Toronto based interior designer Laura Stein grew up in the city and is the founder of Laura Stein Interiors and LSI Workshop, a business she created to mentor and support interior decorators and designers. A lifelong creative, she discovered her love of spaces at twelve when she was allowed to redesign her childhood bedroom, sparking a lasting fascination with textiles, colour, and the way rooms feel.Laura studied film and communications at McGill University and went on to earn a masters degree in marketing communications from Boston University. She began her career in Boston as an art director and graphic designer in advertising and publishing, where she art directed photo shoots and designed three dimensional sets. A move back to Toronto led to styling work on HGTV productions, night classes in interior design at George Brown College, and eventually the launch of her own firm from a spare bedroom in her parents home.For about twenty years Laura has grown her practice from small renovations to large scale projects, including whole home gut renovations, new construction and a twenty thousand square foot residence, supported at its peak by a studio team of seven. Known as the queen of systems, she built her business on thoughtful processes, client experience and strong industry relationships, even helping adapt the Studio Designer platform for Canadian designers.Today Laura continues to take on select Toronto based design projects while focusing much of her energy on LSI Workshop, where she combines creative mentoring, process templates and branding support to help designers align their work, client journey and brand. Listeners can find links to her website in the episode liner notes and follow her ongoing work and resources for designers on Instagram and through her newsletter.Laura Stein Interiors WorkshopCurated Podcast Sponsors:Caplan's AppliancesThe DoorsAquanta Pools To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.caBehind the Build Instagram

Jason Fung is the founder and principal of Jason Fung Architect, a boutique architecture practice based in Toronto, Canada. He grew up in Markham, Ontario, in a middle income household where his parents encouraged both academic rigor and creative exploration. Alongside strong grounding in math and science at school, he spent weekends in visual art classes and piano lessons, developing early skills in drawing, observation, and proportion that carried through to university.Fung completed both his undergraduate degree and master’s degree in architecture at Toronto Metropolitan University, then known as Ryerson University. He entered the profession with limited exposure to architectural practice but gained early insight through a high school co op placement at the firm Robbie Young & Wright, later absorbed into IBI Group. His professional experience spans a range of scales and typologies, including retail and shopping centre work with pellow plus associates, residential design with AGATHOM, condominium projects in Vaughan with architect Alan Tregebov, and mid rise and residential work with Studio JCI.In 2016, he founded Jason Fung Architect, initially operating from his parents’ home in Markham. His first built work included a renovation of his family kitchen and bathroom, followed by a modest rear residential addition that became his first featured project. The practice has since grown into a small team delivering residential, commercial, and institutional projects, including renovation work for public education clients. Fung’s approach emphasizes accountability, staff autonomy, sustainable working hours, and long term professional balance.Outside of practice, he is an avid traveler and film enthusiast. His travels have included extended time throughout Europe, as well as Peru and India, with experiences at Machu Picchu, the Taj Mahal, and along the Ganges River shaping his understanding of architecture, culture, and place. He frequently revisits films such as Back to the Future, Star Wars, and The Lord of the Rings, and he and his wife are raising their young son in Toronto.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠Aquanta Pools⁠ To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Marti Gallucci is a Partner and Design Director at Mason Studio, where she has been a key part of the firm’s evolution for over 13 years. She joined the studio as an intern during her fourth year of university, became its first employee, and has grown alongside the practice as it expanded into a multidisciplinary team of approximately 25 people. Her work spans hospitality, restaurants, hotels, private residences, retail, multi unit residential, and self initiated exhibitions and installations, with a strong emphasis on sensory driven, immersive environments.She lives in Stouffville, Ontario, and was raised primarily in Goodwood, with time spent in both Stouffville and Uxbridge. Growing up on a 100 acre rural property, she was exposed early to renovation and hands on building through projects completed with her family and her grandfather, experiences that shaped her interest in space, materiality, and how environments are lived in. She also competed extensively in sports, including figure skating and rep hockey, and played in a tournament that included Team China during their Olympic preparations.Gallucci initially pursued architecture, completing a year at Carleton University in Ottawa in the History and Theory of Architecture program before earning a four year degree in Interior Design from Ryerson University. At Mason Studio, she contributed to early landmark projects including the Duke condominium sales office in the Junction and the Andaz Hotel in Ottawa, where the studio designed the common areas, restaurants, rooftop outdoor space, and guest suites. Her work on that project included collaboration with Canadian artists and makers such as Art Bank, MSDS Studio, Derek McLeod, and Creative Matters, reinforcing the studio’s commitment to craft, storytelling, and place.Outside of practice, she prioritizes time with her family and continues to renovate and build with her husband, including plans for a new home in the countryside.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠Aquanta Pools⁠ To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Nicolas Koff, Uros Novakovic, and Sebastian Bartnicki are the founding partners of Office Ou, a practice shaped as much by lived experience and cultural memory as by formal architectural training. Each arrived at architecture indirectly, carrying with them deep impressions of place, history, and making that would later converge into a shared way of working.Nico grew up in Paris, fascinated by archaeology, ancient civilizations, and the way history embeds itself in landscapes. Childhood trips to Normandy, where WWII bunkers sat quietly along the coast, taught him to read terrain as a record of human action. After moving to Canada as a teenager to escape antisemitism, he found confidence through language, teaching French and rediscovering his footing. His academic path began in East Asian studies before expanding into architecture, landscape architecture, and regional planning at the University of Pennsylvania, reflecting an enduring interest in scale, geography, and cultural systems.Uros was born in Belgrade and raised in Prague, where early memories of late-socialist streets gave way to the optimism of the Velvet Revolution. As a teenager, the city became his playground, shaped by daily walks through the historic center and school trips into the countryside. Moving to Toronto at fourteen was a shock that sharpened his awareness of urban form and what cities offer their inhabitants. His education at the University of Waterloo and formative work experience in Shanghai reinforced a belief in architecture as both cultural and exploratory.Sebastian grew up in Ontario immersed in drawing, painting, and meticulously constructed Lego worlds. Encouraged by a high school art teacher, he discovered architecture as a bridge between creativity and rigor. At Waterloo’s Cambridge campus and later in Rome, studying history in situ revealed architecture as part of a long, interconnected lineage shaped by politics, economics, and culture. Work experiences in New York, London, and Montreal further expanded his understanding of cities as living systems.Their partnership formed organically through late-night competitions, shared apartments, and an intuitive creative rhythm. Office Ou emerged not from a business plan, but from curiosity, trust, and a shared commitment to thoughtful, context-driven design.Impossible Toronto: https://impossibletoronto.ca/Curated Podcast Sponsors:Caplan's Appliances: https://caplans.ca/The Doors: https://thedoors4u.com/Aquanta Pools: https://aquanta.caTo connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.caBehind the Build on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behind_the_build_podcast