The concept word for the Trash Me lamp design is "transient". Reflecting global culture, it is an ephemeral product. The lamp is made of paper pulp spread over a mold and left to dry and shaped into an extraordinary yet utilitarian form. It is only fitting that the name is Trash Me, meaning "please recycle me when no longer useful or desired."

Unreal Estate of China is a book comprised of 56 axonometric drawings of China's land and cityscapes. The book offers graphic critiques and comments about China's rapid urbanization and its consequences.

This antique Taoist mask from China's mountainous south was primarily used in Bianpo plays.

Since opening in 2010, WORKshop has conducted design-related research which includes: modern Ming furniture, the building at 80 Bloor Street West, hand-made and digital embroidery, and a family of wood handbags.

Designed by Shanghai-based Neri&Hu, the Shan Shui ash tray is inspired by a traditional calligraphy brush rest. Shan Shui presents double imagery when in use: a lighted cigarette resting in the tray recalls a typical Chinese painting of a mountain surrounded in clouds.

These vintage paper items from Hong Kong include: rental leases, theatre tickets, water bills, etc.

Designed by Shanghai-based Neri&Hu, the ZiSha Tea Project came out of an exploration of different materials for tea vessels. The significance of the project is the purity of the material ZiSha (purple clay), which is preserved through its subdued and simple form – an abstraction of the traditional teacup. The collection is offered in 8 different natural colors of ZiSha.

Prints measuring 20" x 16.5" are enlarged and reproduced from the book Unreal Estate of China (see No. 2) on heavy archival paper, suitable for framing.

This handcrafted antique tea canister drew inspiration from the traditional Chinese bottle gourd HuLu and features delicate etching on the exterior.

This glazed antique roof tile ornament represents a mystical Chinese creature, Qilin.

Clay Sculpture of Michael Jackson (1958-2009) commemorating the superstar, completed in 2009. Price includes an original fabric-covered case.

Designed by Montreal-based Zut Design, this triangular handbag is made from recycled rubber and exemplifies the designer's vision of creating useful objects from reclaimed materials. A rectangular recycled-rubber pencil case is also available.

Designed on the principle of resonance, the ADIN vibration speaker turns any surface, including wood, glass or metal, into a large speaker. It incorporates a built-in FM radio, and can play music from MicroSD card, PC, and your personal music devices.

Designed by Shanghai-based EXH, these exquisite chairs draw inspiration from China's Ming Dynasty. They have a refined black lacquer finish.

Ricami, the Italian name for embroidery, is a laser cut metal stool, powder coated in white. Inspired by Chinese ethnic minority Miao women's filigree headdresses, the design echoes that of its sister Fabric Tower, a residential tower proposal for China's Guangdong Province.

Infused with a high personal style, the calligraphy by Catherine Xiao Kejia exudes emotion at every rise and pause of her brush while blending spontaneously into the overall structure. Hailed as a child prodigy in traditional forms of calligraphy, Xiao Kejia began experimenting with a new style of cursive or grass calligraphy after moving to Hong Kong in 1987. Combining large and small characters, often overlaid in different colors, Xiao Kejia succeeds in carrying over her classical training into new forms, producing a feeling of freshness and originality. Custom framing by The Gilder (Toronto).

Immersive garden environments employing scent were designed for Xi'An, China's 2011 World Horticultural Exposition by University of Toronto architecture professors Rodolphe el-Khoury and Robert Levit. The Xi'an Scent Garden project and an accompanying "Scent Squadron" (designed by the firm of KHOURY LEVIT FONG and evoking the historic Terracotta Warriors period), were on display at WORKshop in 2010.

WORKshop presented its first exhibition, MING MODERN, in the winter of 2010. The opening exhibition was inspired by the Chinese Ming Dynasty and featured contemporary furniture, art, and objects for the home by Blanc de Chine (Hong Kong), Brent Cordner (Toronto), EXH Design (Shanghai), Andrew Jones (Toronto), Katherine Xiao Kejia (Beijing), Morris Lum (Toronto), Jesse Jackson (Toronto), Elena Manferdini (Los Angeles), MAP OFFICE (Hong Kong), Neri & Hu (Shanghai), and Gord Peteran (Toronto), as well as projects by Architecture students at the University of Toronto.

In 2010, architecture students at Ryerson University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Waterloo, along with students in the Building Science program at Ryerson University, were invited to participate in an ideas competition for the rejuvenation of the south facade of 80 Bloor Street West, a 19-storey office tower in Toronto's Yorkville district. The winning submission – Chroma by Nelson Cheng and Richard Lam both from the University of Toronto – employs sun-shades as a means of providing environmental comfort to the building tenants and rejuvenating the south facade of the tower. Changeable LED lighting brings colour and dynamism to the transformed structure at night.

In a design studio taught by Prof. Larry Richards at the University of Toronto's architecture school, Richard Unterthiner proposed a pagoda-inspired condominium tower for the site of 80 Bloor Street West. This proposal is included in 80, a book published by WORKshop about the history, present, and future of the building.

As part of WORKshop's STITCHES: Suzhou Fast Forward exhibition, Street of Heaven is a machine-made work of embroidery depicting the impressive topography of Toronto's Yonge Street as a landmark arterial road. Based on a digital satellite image, the dense cityscape of the city proper gives way to countryside with Yonge Street itself embroidered in gold thread.

Blanc de Chine has strived to marry a long tradition of Chinese culture and superior craftsmanship with modern sophistication and technology. The beauty of each Blanc de Chine piece lies not just in the outward aesthetics, but also in the Zen principles it embodies: simplicity, serenity, functionality, comfort, sensuality, subtlety, harmony and purity.

Manufactured in the UK, this vintage helmet used by firemen of the former British Hong Kong is a true collector's piece.

Commissioned for WORKshop's STITCHES: Suzhou Fast Forward exhibition, IMBLANKY is a self-positioning and self-representing e-blanket. Its ability to know and represent its state in time and position in space approximates the most primitive and essential form of cognition: the awareness of one's own body. By draping it over an object, the blanket reproduces digitally and in real time that which it covers. This ability constitutes a foundation for multiple functionalities employing myriad sensing capacities that may be implemented in future generations of the e-blanket.

In November 2009, WORKshop announced the winners in the S-TOWER student design competition. Peter Sherratt's design, displayed here, was selected as runner-up. The modular, interlocking system is simple and flexible. The winning shoe tower proposals were displayed as part of WORKshop's 2010 opening exhibition.