Condos
Visit Veteran Designer Sharon Mimran’s Art-Filled Toronto Condo
Published on September 13, 2021
As any skilled painter will tell you, emotional impact can come from a simple brushstroke or well-placed block of color. While Sharon Mimran’s chosen medium isn’t paint, the veteran designer has built a successful career by applying these principles to projects across Canada, the U.S. and Europe.
When it came time for Sharon to downsize to a two-bedroom condo in the new Four Seasons Private Residences Toronto, she took the lessons learned over her 35-year career to create an art-filled space defined by dramatic contrasts of black and white, playful accents and emotion. “I take pride in being able to create a fresh look for every project, giving the client a design that’s theirs alone,” says Sharon, whose work has appeared regularly in House & Home over the years, including nine cover stories. “But for my own home, I wanted to make a bigger statement and take more risks.”
To create a space that speaks uniquely to her tastes and personality, Sharon started from her favorite place: art. An avid collector as a young adult, the designer has a collection that spans genres and decades, from Joan Miró to Terry Richardson. Her 1,950-square-foot home contains a tightly curated selection of favorite works, with the overflow safely stored. “I’ve always had a keen eye for what artworks were classic and what investment pieces would stand the test of time,” she says. Sharon chose pieces for their emotional resonance and visual punch, using them to dictate the composition and mood of each room.
Moving into a condo from a succession of showpiece houses also meant that Sharon could only display a fraction of the furniture she had acquired over the years. She tackled this challenge — one every downsizer knows all too well — by carefully selecting meaningful heirlooms and splurging on a few new pieces to complement the layout. “It took me about three months to reinvent the layout using fewer pieces,” says Sharon.
Like an artist composing a scene, Sharon relied on the dramatic interplay of blacks and whites — including ebony-stained oak floors and white Carrara marble accented with black tile — to energize her space. While most of the walls are painted gallery white, she made deft use of black “drama walls” to accentuate two favorite artworks. “Voilà!” says Sharon. “Impact!”
Scroll down to step inside the designer’s art-filled condo!
Patrick Biller
House & Home September 2021
Sharon Mimran