Who: Ian Albright, a technical assistant who builds theatre sets for the Opera Department at U of T, and Laura Kim, a U of T grad student and an apprenticing piano mechanic
What: Two-floor apartment of a house in the Annex
1. Ian’s teaching position at a theatre school in Hong Kong spurred his
nostalgia for anime action figures: “As a kid, I was a big spaceship
nut.” He crafted the display stand for this Macross
jet-spaceship-robot transformer.
2. “There’s not much else to do in Woodbridge!” With time to kill in
between a wedding ceremony and reception, Ian and his buddies hit up a
bowling alley for an impromptu tourney—and he won first prize.
3. Ian bought this Lonely Planet on whim while in Hong Kong. Out of it,
he picked the small town of Cha-am, Thailand to spend the weekend in
and ended up at a local fair. “It looked exactly like a fair in my
hometown of Tillsonburg: bumper cars, teens making out — but with great
Thai food.”
4. Ian built the set for a play based on the Little Bear cartoon. He got
to keep the cub’s favourite doll as a souvenir of the show’s North
American tour.
5. The ultimate period piece: Laura’s pal snagged this print of medieval sheet music from Siena, Italy.
6. Ian is all about the DIY projects and this one-of-a-kind TV unit is one
of the results of his handiwork. “I call it the electronic hearth —
we’d rather leave a room empty than fill it with stuff that we buy. We
take our time to find vintage pieces or make them ourselves.”
7. The eco-friendly couple swiped this sweet ’70s vintage chair in a trash pile outside of the U of T Music Department.
8. Laura plays both the violin and piano. “I’m a classically trained
pianist and I teach piano to kids who tell me what style they want to
learn, from Bach to Journey to Avril Lavigne, reluctantly.”
9. Ian got a great deal on this craigslist find. The previous owners feared the buttery leather would become their pet’s scratching post. Instead of de-clawing their kitty, they sold the sofa.