Selling Authenticity: The Aesthetics of Design Boutiques in Montreal

Abstract

This chapter considers how the practice of design takes place in a city like Montreal, where it has been widely promoted in the last decade. It focuses on designers who create everyday-life objects and, more specifically, on the visual environment that characterises the design boutiques in Montreal’s Mile End district. It shows that the aesthetics of these spaces are developed around a set of values, namely authenticity, materiality and hospitality. These aesthetics are crucial to distinguish design products and signal to potential clients that these products belong to an alternative version of the market economy. Yet, the aesthetics of these boutiques contribute to an aesthetics of gentrification, which raise questions about the local culture, the history of the neighbourhood, and its population.