Dernier Occupant: École de Pensée in Residence at Maison Linton
On view from April 15 to April 17, 2022.
12h - 17h
Maison Linton
3424 Simpson St, Montreal,
Qc H3G 2J3, Canada.
Despite its size and grandeur, Maison Linton in Downtown Montreal has gone unseen. Built in the 19th Century, the house has lived many lives, existing as a place of immense luxury and total abandonment. Yet, its elegant spaces and refined details remain, withstanding the passing of time.
Sitting within half an acre in the Golden Square Mile, Maison Linton is an elegantly appointed and beautifully-detailed piece of architecture conceived by architect Cyrus P. Thomas. With soaring ceilings and an abundance of original features, each of the four floors is generous and well-proportioned, accented with columns and pilasters, moulded-plaster ornaments and crown mouldings.
Having fallen into disrepair, Maison Linton was thoughtfully and sensitively restored by the Sweibel family, whose work ensured the building's continued survival, highlighting its timeless appeal. After many years of closure to the public, due initially to the building's abandonment and more recently serving as a corporate head office for a public fashion company, the Sweibel family is inviting Montreal's creative community into the building with a series of collaborations and events. Conceived with the hope that Maison Linton might become an integral part of the city's cultural landscape, the house will be experienced by a new audience and occupied by a new generation of tenants.
Dernier Occupant marks the debut of a new era for the property. Led by architectural designer Mitchell Sweibel, the collaboration is seeing Maison Linton hosting the Montreal menswear brand, École De Pensée, with whom he has found somewhat of a kindred spirit.
A coming together of contemporary design and historic architecture, the collaboration is not rooted in the juxtaposition of old and new but rather in their similarities, exploring what connects designs that span different times and forms. Instead of providing a white canvas, Maison Linton offers an entirely new context - one that is infused with history, complexity and character.
Hosting École De Pensée, the event is presenting pieces from their own collection alongside furniture from the Danish design studio Frama to create open-ended narratives and textural assemblages. Blurring the lines between different forms and periods of design, the ephemeral installation is a meditation on permanence and timelessness.
Thoughtful and considered, both École De Pensée and Frama focus on creating pieces that are meaningful and enduring. The three founders of École De Pensée - Marc-André Garand, William Lessard and Julien Gauthier - create clothing with a rich history, using heritage materials and traditional techniques, and borrowing shapes and silhouettes from bygone eras. Describing their approach to design as "an inclination towards simplicity, without falling into minimalism," École De Pensée strikes a balance between the classic and the contemporary, resulting in clothing that is, in its own way, timeless.
Frama elevates its practical and pared-back aesthetic by designing objects with a strong utilitarian appeal through quality materials and craftsmanship. Finding the simplest form - the purest expression - Frama has developed a decidedly modern language while also being informed by classical forms. Much like École De Pensée, theirs are designs made to be used, worn and loved - acquiring meaning, built up in layers over time, to create an inimitable patina.
Dernier Occupant brings together several elements in a state of flux, shifting between past and present, history and modernity, looking back while moving forward. An exploration of the effects of entropy - its inevitability and its beauty - the collaboration is a celebration of Montreal's design heritage, past and present.
All images by Gabriel DeRossi
Maison Linton is currently available
for mid & long-term lease.
For any inquiries, please contact Mitchell Sweibel at mitchellsweibel@me.com
