A Toronto Dispensary by Studio Paolo Ferrari Offers Clients an Interactive Experience

2021 Best of Year winner for Dispensary

At Alchemy, the apothecarylike space is between a laboratory and a temple, one that not only subverts the marijuana cliches but also delivers an interactive and elevated boutique experience. Studio Paolo Ferrari‘s material choices throughout the 1,500 square feet explore a fundamental tension within the world of cannabis: The product is a plant that grows from the ground but uses cutting-edge technology to maximize its potential. So, natural ash, terrazzo, and unglazed terra-cotta mix with industrial anodized aluminum, solid-surfacing, and eco-resin, the latter forming an undulating feature wall. “There’s something beautiful about the highly engineered alongside the earthy,” principal Paolo Ferrari says. That feature wall is a fiery orange, and it’s coordinated with carpet in the same shade. Most columns and displays of oils, concentrates, and topicals are white or silver, but there’s the occasional one in canary yellow. “Color was used to punctuate the concept of chemical transformation,” Ferrari explains. A wabi-sabi sensibility is also at play. Overhead, the ceiling is fitted with hundreds of aluminum fins, inspired by those Oscar Niemeyer developed in 1971 for the Communist party’s Paris headquarters.

Studio Paolo Ferrari: Paolo Ferrari; Joanna Wenderska; Shelley Tang