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M-Prove is Castlefield’s New Cosmopolitan Showroom

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The founding father-son duo have organized the concept into four distinct style groups

Faek Mounla’s decades-long career in architecture, furniture retail and brand development is evident in the conceptual design of M-Prove, his new showroom in the city’s Castlefield Design District. Since opening its doors in February, the 15,000-square-foot showroom has accumulated a vast inventory and settled into a distinct and expressive identity. “It’s like when you move into a new house and keep making additions until everything begins to feel right,” says Faek, who operates the business with his son, Malek. The label “M-Prove” not only represents the duo’s family name but encapsulates a shared mission to improve the lives of their customers. “We’re not just selling furniture, we’re selling a lifestyle,” he adds.

M-Prove Toronto

LEFT Occupying nearly half of the showroom floor is M-Prove’s expansive Moooi collection, the largest in North America. Perch Light Tree pendant by Moooi, pricing upon request. RIGHT M-Prove founder Faek Mounla (left) and COO Malek Mounla. Raimond II pendant by Moooi, from $4,100.

M-Prove’s interior scheme invites patrons to spend hours exploring its four distinct style groups: Eclectic, Cosmopolitan, New Modern and the soon-to-come Industrial collection, featuring Dutch furniture brand Versmissen. Each grouping offers a price matrix, accommodating different budgets, while maintaining quality and authenticity. Guests will find an array of renowned brands within each, including a large collection from Moooi, Italy’s Bonaldo, local gem Gus and Danish design company Wendelbo.

Furniture Shops Toronto, Showrooms

Gallery-grade lighting is used to emit a glow that blurs negative space and highlights each piece of furniture in the showroom.

As one of the only showrooms buying directly from Europe, M-Prove sells its furniture at a fraction of market price, an advantage Faek attributes to his long-time relationships with the global brands. Before returning to Canada, the showroom founder left Montreal for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he worked closely with designers and furniture brands across the Middle East and Europe. “My relationships with these brands surpass 15 years,” he says. “Not just because I like them, but because I know they are credible in terms of their quality and timely delivery.”

Lighting Shops, Toronto

The Party by Moooi is a family of wall lamps, each named after their unique personalities, backstories and occupations, only partly revealed by the expressions on their cast-ceramic faces. $900/each.

M-Prove’s showroom experience is reminiscent of an art gallery, carefully curated to highlight moments as guests explore. “We had two options when crafting the layout: to mimic what our competitors are doing or try something entirely unique,” Faek says. The result is a gem within the expanding design district that balances a creative edge with a savviness that modern shoppers have come to appreciate, highlighting both father and son’s areas of expertise. “We had to synchronize our ways of thinking because, in many ways, we are opposites,” shared Malek, whose background in business and economics is a contrast to his father’s work in the creative industries. “Working together has been, however, a huge opportunity to learn from one another,” he adds. If this harmonious collaboration between father and son proves anything, it’s that this dynamic force is one to be reckoned with. M-PROVE.CA

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Okay, but it clearly is

For the first 16 years of my life, the bat cave at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)—a reconstruction of an actual cave in Jamaica—was among my favourite places in the city. The cave was decorated with cast stalactites and wax bat models, which hung from the ceiling and threw jagged shadows on the walls. A few other features imbued it with spooky verisimilitude: the drip-drip-drip sound effects, the mirrors arranged to create the illusion of infinite depth, the strobe lights strategically placed to make the shadows flutter. When I visited as a five-year-old, the bat cave scared me. When I visited as a stoned fifteen-year-old, it scared me even more. Then came the renovation.

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