hollis+morris is a Toronto-based furniture and lighting that specializes in modern and functional designs made with timeless materials like metal and solid wood.
The award-winning brand is known for its high-quality, locally-made products — including tables, lounge seating, beds, lamps, sconces, and pendants — that emphasize craftsmanship and environmental sustainability.
The company, which was founded by Mischa Couvrette 10 years ago, remains committed to making everything right here in Toronto, where all its products are also designed and assembled in-house at its facility.
Couvrette’s journey to founding hollis+morris began with an unexpected turn after graduating from Dalhousie University with a double major in marine biology and environmental science.
Right after university, he and his three friends bought a 1976 custom steel sailboat that had circumnavigated the globe 12 times. For the next year and a half, the group spent their time restoring the boat, which sparked Couvrette’s passion for design.
Founder Mischa Couvrette.
After sailing from Halifax to Guatemala, Couvrette returned to Canada and subsequently enrolled in Sheridan College’s furniture program, which set the stage for the founding of hollis+morris.
Since its inception, the brand has always had sustainability at its core, using Canadian hardwoods like walnut and white oak for its pieces and metal manufacturing partners in southern Ontario to ensure that every product is made from local materials.
“Our products have been rooted with an environmental mission since the beginning,” Couvrette told blogTO.
All of the company’s products are crafted in their Toronto studio, where the vast majority of their manufacturing partners are located within 20 to 30 kilometres from the facility.
Just over a year ago, the brand moved into a 15,000-square-foot facility that houses its shop, showroom, and office spaces, where 25 employees work.
The facility boasts dedicated wood, metal, and finish spaces, as well as an open daylit assembly space that can be viewed from the showroom. There’s also a wood finishing room and a prototyping area.
The environmentally conscious space, Couvrette says, is designed to be transparent and showcase the production process.
“As soon as someone walks in, they realize this isn’t a regular showroom. It’s quite literally being put together in the same space that you’re getting to experience in the studio,” he said.
“We’re really proud that all these products are made in a city like Toronto. When you walk in, you see the product. It’s not as if it just arrived from Italy or China or wherever in a box.”
The brand is committed to only using FSC-certified, locally sourced wood species and energy-efficient LED lighting to reduce its environmental impact.
“The most important element to this is that the product lasts forever. Something that lasts forever is far greater from an environmental side of things than something that needs to be thrown away,” Couvrette explained.
“The tables will last 100 years, and the lighting fixtures can last 100 years. The LEDs don’t need to be changed for 50,000 hours.”
One of the brand’s standout pieces is “The Willow,” a lighting fixture that combines seven delicate orbs. Some of the brand’s lighting, Couvrette says, is designed not to light an entire room but to act as “jewellery” to the space.
Initially focused on residential spaces, hollis+morris has expanded its reach to commercial spaces, where Couvrette has noticed that more and more people are trying to create environments that feel “more like home and less like an office.”
As potential tariffs also loom, Couvrette says it’s encouraging to see more Canadians support locally-made products. “People are seeking something more authentic and Canadian or more locally-made, and we’re thrilled when they step in here and realize what is happening in this space.”
hollis+morris is located at 501 Alliance Ave. Suite 4.
