About Lalaya Design
Toronto-based LALAYA Design was founded, somewhat unexpectedly, in 2017 by Hanae Baruchel, who turned to designing furniture following a brain injury. Baruchel plays on the surprising malleability and versatility of concrete and steel to design her minimalistic line of home furniture and décor items.
The studio takes its name after the Brazilian word, la-la-ia (pronounced ‘lah-lah-YAH’), a common musical phrase that embodies what singing sounds like. Baruchel finds much inspiration in music; in lightness and harmony. Accordingly, the interplay between heavy and light, a penchant for asymmetry and the unexpected, are signature elements in LALAYA collections. Each LALAYA design is assigned an onomatopoeic name to tease out the playful attributes within her designs.
LALAYA’s products have been sold in Canada, France, the U.S., Spain the Netherlands and India. The studio won the prestigious Best of Launch Pad award for its lighting collection at Wanted Design 2018 in New York City and was also a finalist for the 2019 RADO Star Prize in Canada. LALAYA Design has exhibited at Toronto’s Interior Design Show, DesignTO Festival, Wanted Design NYC and Milan’s Salone del Mobile. They were commissioned by Ontario Place to produce an outdoor Winter Light Exhibit in 2018/2019.
The studio’s work has been featured in Design Milk, FASHION Magazine, AZURE, Designlines, Interior Design Magazine, DARC, among others. A selection of press clippings can be found here.