PEKOTA

Marco Pecota is an unusually gifted man: he is a filmmaker, a magazine publisher, furniture designer and owner of PEKOTA Shoppe, a home furnishing and lifestyles store in Toronto's Junction neighbourhood. The uniting factor in all his various endeavors is his belief in the importance of art and beauty. Marco harnesses his love of elegant design to create functional, well-crafted furniture that is quite unlike anything else. "My inspiration comes from early 19th century, he says. "From avionics, old cars, from the past. Our stuff is past-present-future fusion."

Marco began his furniture design in commercial spaces, creating beautiful installations for offices and restaurant. He continues the development of his style, which he calls “industrial elegance,” into home décor. His work mimics the look of old factory machinery and furnishings, a look that is increasingly popular in both retail spaces and family homes. His own work “softens the edges,” as Marco puts it, making his line of tables and chairs fit well in a more domestic setting.

"The trend is to reclaim stuff. I create tables and chairs that take elements of that style — the reclaimed look — and marry that with more refined design and craftsmanship, Marco explains. "Some of my pieces look like they've been rescued from old machinery, but in fact they were designed to fit together."