page_title: Design Exchange
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Design Exchange / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The gift shop at the Design Exchange. Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
context_page_description: The Design Exchange is a cultural organization that champions creative thinking, inspires problem solving, and celebrates innovative talent in Canada and around the world in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. DX serves as Canada’s design hub, by being a crossroads for multiple disciplines that demonstrate the power of design, innovation, and technology to change the world for the better for everyone, through the delivery of a range of engaging and enriching public programs and exhibitions.
  DX is a not-for-profit registered charity the relies on generous donations to develop experiences and initiatives that create meaningful impact informed by a global outlook. Design Exchange is located in Toronto's financial district in the historic Toronto Stock Exchange building. From 2012 to 2019, the organization operated a design museum within its building, known as Canada's Design Museum.
context_section_description: The federal agency Design Canada closed in 1985, followed by the University of Toronto's (soon rescinded) announcement in 1986 that it intended to close its school of architecture. In 1983 the Toronto Stock Exchange had abandoned its historic home for the last 46 years at 234 Bay Street, which had been declared a heritage property in 1978. Olympia and York (O&Y) purchased the building. In return for the air rights to build an office tower on the site, O&Y agreed to retain and restore the building.
  O&Y commissioned a study to consider the idea of using the trading floor as a public facility. The study indicated that Toronto designers would support a cultural design centre. In January 1986, a group of designers organized an event to lobby Toronto City Hall in support of the initiative. City officials recognized a body of ten citizens as "The Group for the Creation of a Design Centre in Toronto", which was incorporated on February 6, 1987, and came to be known as the Design Exchange.
  At the prompting of the citizens' group, city staff funded a study which determined that a design centre in the old Toronto Stock Exchange "was both possible and desirable." 
  In 1986, O&Y sold the Bay Street property to Cadillac Fairview and The Toronto Dominion Bank (Toronto-Dominion Centre West Limited), conditional on the design centre concept being retained. The new owner was also required to provide $500,000 to the City for 25 years, which would, in turn, be passed along (minus a 10% holdback) onto the design centre to offset operating costs. This agreement, in effect, gave the Design Exchange operating rights in the historic building.
  In 1988 the design centre was named the Design Exchange and the original citizens' group was made the founding board. The group established a Board of Management (which included the founding board and citizens and a couple of city councillors). Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects was commissioned to renovate and enlarge the non-heritage-designated spaces (exhibition spaces, administrative office space, the resource centre and meeting rooms), the designs of which are kept at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal.
  The same year the Group for the Creation of a Design Centre in Toronto began a capital campaign drive aimed at raising funds from the private and public sectors. In 1993, after years of lobbying, the federal and provincial governments confirmed funding for capital expenses in the sum of $6.3 million. In 1994, The Group became the sub-tenant with a long-term lease until 2091. On September 21, 1994, the Design Exchange was officially opened by Prime Minister, The Right Honourable Jean Chrétien.  Howard Cohen, now of Context Development, was named the first President.
  In 1996 the Design Exchange set a mandate for its Permanent Collection: to collect the best Canadian materials designed since 1945. As of 2016, the DX Permanent Collection contained approximately 600 items, however, the collection was deaccessioned in 2019.  Design Exchange has mounted more than 400 exhibitions, organized hundreds of seminars, lectures, international conferences and educational programs and publications related to the role of design in culture, industry, and business.
  From 2003-2011, under the leadership of President and CEO Samantha Sannella, the Design Exchange focused on promoting the value of Canadian design and its contribution to the economy, environment and quality of life. During this time, the DX hosted numerous domestic and international exhibitions and created hundreds of programs with the goal to educate the public.  This included the creation of Design Camps and an extensive curriculum was developed targeting children 18 and under - with a special outreach program entitled, Designers in the Classroom.  Numerous annual design competitions for high school students and university students were created that awarded scholarships nationally for design excellence.  Additionally, workshops, lectures and classes for adults were held monthly.  Notable exhibits included:  Costume Design from the Academy
caption: A gift shop at the Design Exchange, June 2012. Several months earlier, the museum began to operate exclusively as a museum for design.
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