Dyonne Fashina is the founder of Denizens of Design, a Toronto based interior design practice working across hospitality, commercial, and cultural projects. She grew up in Hockley Valley, just north of Orangeville, on a seven acre property with a creek connected to the Nottawasaga River. Her earliest creative experiences came from working with clay found along the creek, forming objects by hand, which established a lasting connection to materiality and making.

Fashina pursued art from a young age, including weekly watercolour classes beginning at age twelve, and that medium continues to inform her work today. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts at Western University before earning her interior design degree at Ryerson University, now Toronto Metropolitan University. While in school, she worked at Fleur de Lis, developing a strong foundation in millwork and detailing, and later held roles at Retail Environments, Stantec, and Quadrangle.

After navigating layoffs early in her career, she set out to build her own stability and began working independently. Her first major commission was a one hundred suite hotel in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Since then, her practice has grown through long standing relationships and direct outreach. Denizens of Design is known for a collaborative model that brings together architects, engineers, fabricators, and makers as needed. The studio operates from a shared workspace with architect Paul Raff, fostering cross disciplinary exchange.

Her work with the Food Dudes includes cultural and museum dining projects at the Gardiner Museum, the McMichael, the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Evergreen Brick Works, and the Alton Mill Arts Centre, where she has helped develop flexible hospitality environments that support both daily use and events. Outside of practice, she is an avid traveler and lifelong musician who sings regularly at karaoke. She has also referenced a childhood photo, often shared on Instagram Stories, showing her in a bright green snowsuit while supervising her brother’s early building projects.

Curated Podcast Sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Aquanta Pools⁠⁠⁠

To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca

⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Stefano Pujatti is an Italian architect and designer, born in Budoia near Pordenone in northeastern Italy, north of Venice. He grew up in a rural environment close to a NATO base, an experience that exposed him early to international culture and different perspectives. From a young age he was drawn to construction, farming, and horses, beginning to ride early and maintaining a lifelong connection to horsemanship.

He studied architecture in Venice, where he was educated within one of Europe’s most rigorous academic environments, and later completed a master’s degree at the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles. His education placed him in contact with influential figures and movements shaping late twentieth century architecture, including deconstructivist practices and frequent lectures and reviews by architects such as Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid. These experiences shifted his approach toward physical experimentation, model making, and a direct engagement with form and space.

Early in his career he worked in Los Angeles, including model work connected to Gehry’s office, before returning to Europe to work with Professor Gino Valle. He later established his own practice, taking on public commissions at a young age, including cemetery and crematorium projects that were built early and helped define his professional trajectory. His work has ranged from landscape integrated public projects to housing, industrial buildings, and interior and product design.

Based in Torino, he has also maintained a long standing professional presence in Toronto since 2014. During this period he taught for two semesters at the University of Toronto and completed early Canadian work such as the York Marble offices. His practice continues to operate across Italy and Canada, shaped by a belief that design is a way of thinking rather than a fixed scale or typology, and by a strong sense of responsibility toward clients and collaborators who place their trust in his work.

Curated Podcast Sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Aquanta Pools⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Ashley Botten is a Toronto based interior designer and the founder of Ashley Botten Design. Raised in Toronto’s Lawrence Park neighbourhood, her earliest connection to design began in childhood through an intuitive relationship with space, furniture arrangement, and atmosphere. That sensitivity was shaped by time spent rearranging her bedroom, careful attention to objects and materials, and frequent exposure to hotels through her father’s career in the hotel industry, which began with Four Seasons. Early experiences at landmark Toronto properties, including the Inn on the Park, further influenced her appreciation for hospitality, environment, and spatial feeling.

During her teenage years, Botten lived in Boston’s Wellesley Hills while attending high school. Entering a small community at grade nine, the experience challenged her sense of identity and social belonging, while also expanding her understanding of cities, culture, and place. She returned to Toronto for grade eleven, maintaining strong ties to the city while developing a growing interest in fashion, styling, and personal expression through clothing.

After high school, she drove across Canada and spent a winter skiing in Whistler before relocating to Vancouver, where she worked at Benetton. In her early twenties, she returned to Toronto to formally study interior design at the Academy of Merchandising and Design, completing the program part time while working. There, she discovered a strong connection to the technical aspects of design, including space planning, proportion, scale, and code, which became foundational to her practice.

Her early professional career included hospitality focused work and a formative period in television production with HGTV, contributing to shows including Savoir Faire, Room Service, and Design Inc. In 2008, she founded Ashley Botten Design, initially focusing on furniture based projects before expanding into full scale residential interiors. Her practice grew through long standing client relationships and word of mouth referrals, leading to projects across Canada, the United States, and Europe. Alongside interiors, furniture continues to play a central role in her work, shaping the language and identity of the studio.

Curated Podcast Sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Aquanta Pools⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@waldenhomes.ca

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram