Celebrating the Art of Architecture, Flowers and Dessert, the renovation and remodeling of a discrete location a few blocks north of Yonge and Eglinton has yielded a spacious and elegant space for Dufflet Rosenberg and Rosemarie Little to place their high-end goods. The beautiful, long and narrow room is a persuasive statement that this is, in fact, a place serious about flowers and dessert.

The space was an existing storefront, tightly squeezed in, and easy to miss. With a modest budget at their disposal, the architects, Martin Kohn and Jean-Louis Rivard (Kohn Shnier Architects), split the room down the centre in a galley-like setting, to organize space in a clear and logical way, and to divide it for staff and customer areas. The objective here was to offer an inviting relief from the street; they have complied by creating a good flow, using a fresh and relaxing color scheme.

Having stripped the place of previous accretions, the architects adapted one uninterrupted length of wall that runs the full depth of the building for the Quince Flowers portion of the store. The far wall, your first focus area upon entering the store, is also a slick glassed-in showcase for Little’s flower arrangements, in keeping with the main walls of the store.

Specific elements from the world beyond the perimeter were adapted further to articulate the interior as a kind of landscape; division between employee and public is clearly demarcated by a streamlined showcase of Dufflets cakes and desserts. A broad and continuous wall of chartreuese glass tiles curves upward, making a sleek statement, and ultimately owning the space.

Not to be lost in the design, Dufflets desserts supply a memorable ending to end all fine meals. And if you’re a Torontonian that eats out occasionally, chances are you’ve had a Dufflet dessert. The ubiquitous chocolate fondant cakes enhanced with Grand Marnier; the designer butter tarts consisting of a cashews, walnuts and pecans and a constantly revolving array of seasonal desserts and pastries. And you will find yourself eyeing Little’s spectacular flower arrangements, that seem to go hand in hand with the dessert category.