Behind the Build AD: Luigi Ferrara - Conifer Futures Group

Goli Basiri is a co-founder and principal designer of Harmen Design, an architecture and interior design studio based in Oakville, Ontario, serving clients across the Greater Toronto Area. Born and raised in Mashhad, Iran, she developed an early sensitivity to the emotional impact of space, shaped by childhood experiences visiting family homes and observing how the environment influences comfort and connection.After completing a bachelor’s degree in physics in Iran in 2008 or 2009, she pursued her original ambition of architecture, earning her degree from Eastern Mediterranean University in Cyprus. In 2014, she immigrated to Canada with her family, first landing in New Brunswick before relocating to Toronto in 2015.She began her Canadian career in high end custom residential construction, coordinating job sites while completing a postgraduate program in Construction Management at George Brown College. She later worked in healthcare design and estimating, navigating building codes across multiple jurisdictions in the United States.In 2018, she and her husband, architect Kia Kazemian, founded Harmen Design. What began with small scale projects grew steadily through referrals and visibility on Instagram, which played a pivotal role in establishing credibility as newcomers to the country. Today, the firm manages approximately 15 to 20 active residential projects at various stages, with a team of six.Goli advocates for a more integrated approach between architecture and interior design, believing interiors should not be layered onto a building after the fact but considered from the earliest stages of planning. Her work reflects both technical rigor and an understanding that space carries emotion. She is also a mother to her daughter, Yara, and protects her early mornings for fitness as a daily reset before work and family life begin.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: [email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Brad Abbott is the founder and principal designer of Abbott Design, based in Toronto, Ontario. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he grew up in a family of physicians and was a lifelong sketcher, known in school for being pulled from class to draw murals for community and holiday events. He played hockey and became an avid skier early on, spending weekends in Manitoba’s Pembina River Valley in a quirky ski culture that included converted railway boxcars used as ski cabins.Abbott began university in the sciences with the intention of pursuing medicine, then switched into architecture after being inspired by the studio culture at the University of Manitoba. He completed a Bachelor of Environmental Design and graduated with a gold medal for highest standing. He then moved to Ottawa to complete a Bachelor of Architecture at Carleton University, where he again finished at the top of his class and received an Ontario wide graduating award that included a travel scholarship. That scholarship launched a year of travel and work, including time with an architectural firm in London, England, followed by extensive skiing and backpacking across Europe, and an offshore sailing passage in the Mediterranean aboard a historic 104 foot racing sloop once associated with King Edward VII.He began his professional career in Calgary, later relocating to Toronto, where he worked with Page and Steele Architects and the interior design firm Marshall Cummings and Associates before incorporating his own practice in 1992. His early independent work included houses and additions in Toronto neighborhoods such as Lawrence Park and Moore Park, along with Committee of Adjustment and approvals work. Over time, his ski life and family ties brought him increasingly to Collingwood and Thornbury, where his firm designs a wide range of residential projects from traditional chalet architecture to contemporary glass and steel homes, including work connected to Ontario’s private ski club culture. Abbott keeps his studio intentionally boutique, leading design personally with a small team of three architectural technologists and typically carrying eight to ten projects at a time. Now 70 and semi retired by his own description, he still splits life between Toronto and ski country, often meeting clients on site and skiing with them.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: [email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Carly Nemtean is a Toronto born interior designer and entrepreneur, and the co-owner of Carriage Lane Design Build, a residential design and construction firm she has led for more than seventeen years. Her interest in spatial planning began early, through hands on experimentation with building, room layouts, and material changes at home, and later developed into a clear professional path. While still in high school, she completed a co-op placement at Watt IDG in Toronto, working under Andrew Kalitchee on large scale retail projects including SilverCity cinemas and Sobeys locations.Nemtean went on to study interior design at Sheridan College, where she completed an intensive three year program known for its demanding studio culture. During her studies, she focused on residential, retail, and institutional projects, including a final thesis centered on an autism support centre. After graduating, she joined the HGTV Canada series Design Interns, filmed at Ryerson University and Cecconi Simone’s studio, where she competed in a televised design apprenticeship format. The show later became a reference point in her career and is mentioned as a linkable resource for episode liner notes.Following the series, Nemtean spent several years working in design for television and residential renovation, including extensive involvement in HGTV productions such as Love It or List It and Property Brothers. Over approximately five years, she served in senior design roles on dozens of episodes, coordinating fast track renovations that required permitting, construction oversight, and close collaboration with millwork, stone, and construction teams. Many of those television clients later became long term private clients, helping establish Carriage Lane Design Build as a full service residential practice.In 2019, Nemtean co-founded The Collective Workspace in Toronto, a shared studio environment created in response to the growing design community and the industry’s increasing use of Instagram for collaboration and resource sharing. Conceived as a physical extension of those connections, the space offers flexible offices, shared resources, and a materials library for designers, architects, and related professionals.Outside of work, Nemtean prioritizes meditation, reading across news, spiritual, and self development topics, and solo travel, which she views as essential for clarity and long term perspective.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: [email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Luigi Ferrara is an architect, urbanist, designer, and design strategist based in Toronto, where he was born and raised in the Downsview area of North York. He is the son of Italian parents from Abruzzo who immigrated to Canada after the Second World War, and he grew up in a close knit extended family community that blended agrarian traditions with postwar industrial life. Early exposure to art, making, and building, combined with formative travel to Italy, strongly influenced his creative path.Luigi studied architecture at the University of Toronto, where he developed a deep interest in the social and cultural dimensions of the built environment. Beginning at age fourteen, he worked for a decade at the Art Gallery of Ontario in its audiovisual and film programming, gaining early exposure to international cinema and cultural production. He later worked in architectural practice in Toronto, including with Peter Turner, and co-founded an architectural firm with his partner, Monica Contreras.His career expanded into design leadership and systems innovation through senior roles at the Design Exchange, where he helped advance interdisciplinary collaboration and early digital platforms for remote design work. Luigi went on to serve for over two decades at George Brown College, including as Dean of the Centre for Arts, Design and Information Technology. There, he led the creation and expansion of programs across design, media, and technology, and directed the Institute without Boundaries, known internationally for its collaborative, charrette based approach to addressing complex social, environmental, and urban challenges.Luigi has held global leadership roles with the World Design Organization, including serving as President, and is currently a Senator of the organization. He is the CEO of Conifer Futures Group, where he focuses on addressing interconnected global challenges including housing affordability, sustainability, social cohesion, and education. Alongside his professional work, Luigi maintains a personal creative practice that includes drawing, poetry, and long form writing.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Aquanta PoolsTo connect with our sponsors, email me: [email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Brooke Michelsen is an interior designer and the founder of Brooke Michelsen Design, based in Vermont. Born and raised in southern Vermont, she grew up in Manchester and later Dorset, where she spent her childhood immersed in the outdoors. She is the third of four children, with two older sisters and a younger brother. Her early life was shaped by a strong connection to nature, including cross country skiing, hiking, maple sugaring, and long days spent exploring the woods around her family home.Brooke was exposed to building and design at a young age through her father, who worked as a builder before becoming a full time artist. She spent much of her childhood around active construction sites and evolving homes, an experience that laid an early foundation for her understanding of space, materials, and process. In school, she gravitated toward art, shop class, and athletics, participating in sports such as field hockey, softball, and soccer, while developing a strong interest in hands on creative work.After high school, Brooke pursued a nontraditional path that included studying art in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where she focused on pottery, weaving, oil painting, and Spanish. She later completed a month long National Outdoor Leadership School course in the Absaroka Range of Wyoming, gaining extensive wilderness and leadership training. Following time spent living and snowboarding in California, she completed general education coursework at community colleges before earning a degree in interior design from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles.After graduating at the top of her class, Brooke began her professional career working with an architecture and development firm, relocating from Los Angeles to Park City, Utah to focus on high end residential projects. She later returned to Vermont as an adult, where she established her own interior design practice.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: [email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Ludwig Godefroy is a French architect born in Gouville-sur-Mer, a small fishing village of roughly 1,000 inhabitants on the Normandy coast, facing the Atlantic Ocean. Raised in a rural environment shaped by craftsmanship, tides, and the honesty of manual labor, his early life was deeply influenced by place. He later moved to Paris to study architecture and graduated from the École d’Architecture de la Ville et des Territoires à Marne-la-Vallée, a Paris-East school housed in a Bernard Tschumi–designed building, where he was part of the first cohort to occupy the campus.Godefroy’s education was shaped by travel and cultural immersion. After studying in Paris, he lived and worked in London, Philadelphia, and New York. In New York, he interned at Thomas Leeser Architecture, contributing to the Three-Legged Dog Theater project while living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He later trained in Barcelona at EMBT, the studio of Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue, contributing to projects including the Gas Natural headquarters during a period when the office was completing Miralles’ final works. He subsequently joined OMA in Rotterdam, working under Rem Koolhaas during a formative moment for the practice.In 2009, Godefroy relocated to Mexico City to work with Tatiana Bilbao, where he became a project leader and embraced a working culture that entrusted young architects with significant responsibility. In 2011, he established his independent practice. His first built project was the M.N. Roy nightclub in Mexico City, followed by Casa Zicatela in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, completed in 2014. Originally conceived with conventional finishes, Casa Zicatela evolved into a raw concrete and tropical wood structure after exposure to local construction methods and a site visit to Tadao Ando’s Casa Wabi, marking a turning point in his architectural language.Today, Godefroy lives and works in Mexico City, operating a small atelier focused on materially honest, emotionally driven architecture. His work spans residential, cultural, and hospitality projects across Mexico and internationally, with ongoing and recent projects in Japan, Alaska, Paraguay, Bali, and the Philippines. His architecture is widely recognized for its sculptural use of concrete, spatial restraint, and deep engagement with place, and is frequently encountered through architectural publications and on Instagram.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Aquanta Pools⁠⁠⁠ To connect with our sponsors, email me: [email protected]⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Meg Cassidy is a Toronto based interior designer and the founder of Studio Meg Cassidy, which she established in 2017. She grew up in Waterloo, Ontario, in a family shaped by both academic and entrepreneurial influences. Her father played professional hockey before becoming a teacher, and her mother owned a modeling agency. Cassidy was a competitive dancer for 13 years, attended an arts focused high school for Grades 9 and 10 where she studied dance and drama, and developed an early interest in writing, history, and creative expression.She earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and was accepted to a master’s program in communications in Australia, but instead moved from Waterloo to Toronto after taking a role in experiential marketing. Over more than a decade, she built a senior career across agency and client side roles, developing expertise in client service, communication, project management, and budget control.After completing small freelance projects for friends and documenting home renovations through blogging and social platforms, Cassidy transitioned into full time practice. Her early work focused on decorating and furnishings, later evolving into comprehensive interior design for renovations and new builds. She built her studio around strong technical support and is known for producing highly detailed documentation packages that support builders and reduce ambiguity during construction.Her work includes new builds as well as complex apartment and home renovations across Toronto and the United States, with projects in New York City, California, and beyond. Much of this cross border work developed organically through social media and client referrals, particularly during the shift toward remote collaboration.Cassidy was named to a global top 20 under 40 designers list within two years of founding her firm. She prioritizes long term client relationships, close collaboration with builders, and interiors that reflect the people who live in them rather than a fixed signature style.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: [email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

Anya Moryoussef is an architect based in Toronto, where she was born and raised. She is the child of immigrant parents, with her mother arriving from South Africa and her father from Morocco in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Growing up, she was deeply introspective and drawn to solitary creative pursuits, including drawing, making objects, and extended imaginative play. Her early interest in art was shaped by her mother, a trained sculptor, and a broader family connection to visual art.Moryoussef attended high school in Toronto, where she was encouraged by her art teacher, Marilyn Berkovich, to apply to the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. She applied exclusively to Waterloo and was accepted, with a secondary plan to study physics and art history at the University of Toronto. At Waterloo, she developed a strong interest in cultural history and theory, particularly through coursework in iconography, which reframed her understanding of history and abstraction.During her architectural education, she completed multiple co op work terms that took her abroad for extended periods, including living and working in London and Istanbul. After graduating, she returned to England for three additional years before settling back in Toronto. She joined Superkül when it was a small studio and worked there for approximately five years, gaining intensive experience in construction documentation, detailing, and project delivery through close mentorship.Moryoussef established her own practice in 2016. Her work focuses primarily on single family residential architecture, guided by long term client relationships and an interest in the domestic scale. Her projects are located across Toronto, the GTA, and regions including Georgian Bay, Algonquin, and Mulmur.Her work has been widely recognized. She is the recipient of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Emerging Architect Award, has received multiple RAIC medals, and has been recognized by the Ontario Association of Architects. Her practice has been featured in Wallpaper* magazine’s Architects Directory, AN Interior’s Top 50 Architects and Designers, and the Twenty + Change Emerging Talent program.Curated Podcast Sponsors:⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠Aquanta Pools⁠⁠ To connect with our sponsors, email me: [email protected]⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram

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 Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Aquanta Pools⁠⁠⁠ To connect with our sponsors, email me: [email protected]⁠⁠⁠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, ElasticoSPA (ElasticoFARM online) 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 Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Aquanta Pools⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To connect with our sponsors, email me: [email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Behind the Build Instagram