From the moment you step into the cavernous Grand Quay halls, it’s clear that Complètement Design isn’t your typical trade show. This year’s theme, “Generative Generation – Design in Process,” turns the spotlight on what usually remains hidden—the sketches, the raw materials, even the so?called “mistakes” that shape every finished piece. Over 2,000 architects, designers, makers and students wandered through two floors of playful, minimalist scenography on April 3, 2025, discovering a design ecosystem built around experimentation and reuse.
A Scenographic Showcase of Process
Ivy Studio’s rapid-install scenography took two industrial wings and transformed them into a labyrinth of raw wood frames and translucent Tyvek panels. Instead of polished walls, you found freestanding structures that filtered light and invited you to peek behind the curtain. Every partition doubled as a signage board or canvas for creative expression, and all materials were earmarked for future reuse—tying back to that core idea of design as an ongoing journey.
Life on the Lower Level
Downstairs felt like a design bazaar-meets-atelier. After a quick hello at the reception, you could grab a coffee at the café?bar—its curved Tyvek walls softly glowing—and then wander among nearly 80 modular exhibitor stations. Each brand, from Caesarstone to local artisans like L’Autre Atelier, featured a square mirror or material fragment as a nod to self?reflection in their process. A pop?up shop stocked art books and crafted objects, while a small stage played host to informal talks throughout the day.
Ideas Under the Roof
Upstairs, the tempo slowed. A 400?seat conference hall welcomed seasoned voices—Matali Crasset, Harry Nuriev, Sonia Gagné and others—sharing insights into their own evolving practices. Nearby, a concept restaurant centered on a communal black?plywood table surrounded by raw?finished chairs; each came with an illustrated “menu” telling its making story. Between bites, you could stroll a linear gallery of art installations or catch Thomas Balaban’s video project on Quebec designers experimenting with generative AI.
Raw Materials, Reimagined
Scattered throughout both floors were prototypes and one?off pieces still “in progress.” Ivy Studio’s VM02 sofa lounged beside Reggy St?Surin’s Tom bench; Gim?Bert’s Galagog light fixture stood beside its imposing mold; Delphine Huguet’s silks draped over an unfinished wall frame. These interventions blurred the line between product and process, inviting visitors to appreciate design as a living, breathing practice.
- Date: April 3, 2025
- Venue: Grand Quay, Old Port of Montreal
- Organizers: Index?Design (producer) & Tafisa Canada (presenting partner)
- Scenography: Ivy Studio – raw wood, Tyvek partitions, modular furniture reuse
- Exhibitors & Speakers: ~80 exhibitors; Matali Crasset, Michel Dallaire, Harry?Nuriev, Sonia?Gagné, Christopher?Dessus, and more
- Visitors: ~2,000 design and architecture professionals
