Gerrard Street West Village. 1961......

We soon realized that we needed better exposure and more street traffic to promote our products. I started looking around various corners downtown and found a small shop on Elm Street, just west of Bay Street. It was just one large room, about 20 feet by 16 feet, with a whole front wall of glass. We managed to rent it on a month to month basis. We had barely moved in when we heard that a two storey house was being vacated on Gerrard Street, just south of us. I was occupied by a prothesis supplier and the two front windows were full of hanging artificial arms and legs and things that I did not recognize. We managed to rent this house at 96 Gerrard Street West for, I believe $ 75.00 per month. We had to clear out a lot of debris from the two floors and basement. My father Arvids, who wad an architect from Latvia and a master builder and cabinetmaker, helped with the renovations. In the process we found a very old issue of Toronto Star stuck inside one of the walls. There was a rumour that Ernest Hemingway had lived in this house when he was working for the Star in the 1920ies.

The area, now known as the Gerrard Street West Village, was becoming a vibrant part of the city. The artist Jack Pollock, who had a gallery in the area was an active promoter and started Maytime in the Village, an annual celebration of spring with exhibitions, street dances, antique car shows and other activities. We painted daisies on the sidewalks and invited people down.There was a French bookstore,Karelia Studio, a photographer's studio and Mary Johns restaurant across the street from us on the corner. Mary Johns was a family run restaurant operated by Finnish people who served wholesome, good food at very reasonable prices. It was popular with a lot of people who worked in the hospitals next door.

Our product selection was still quite limited, however growing. We managed to borrow a newly designed, one piece telephone by L.M.Eriksson of Sweden in two colours, it might have been white and red. We displayed them in our window together with other items. They created a lot of conversation and one lady wanted to know how much the salt and pepper shakers were?

This was the time that the new Toronto City Hall international architectural competition had been won by a Finn Viljo Revell and his associates and they had set up an office to work with John B. Parkin's office to develop the design and coordinate the construction documentation. I got to know Viljo Revell, Bengt Lundsten, Heikki Castren and Seppo Valijus, who took me to their homes to show me their Finnish dishes, glassware, textiles and furniture. They told me who I definitely had to see and which companies were important, such as Artek, Haimi, Muurame, Arabia, Iittala, Aarika, Marimekko, Metsovaara, Dora Jung, Kai Franc, Ilmaari Tapiovaara, Wirkkala, Sarpaneva, Nurmesniemi and others.