photo credit: sirispj

Just want to wish everyone a happy holiday season!   Prospere Magazine’s designer profiles will be taking a break for the next couple of weeks.  We will be back with more designers to tell you about on January 8, 2009! 
 

Keep your holiday memories alive this season with Magnique.  Founder Tova Posner launched her line of glass magnets, picture frames and bulletin boards in 2007.  The idea came to her two years prior, when she was looking for something to organize her papers.  Everything in stores seemed to be plain - nothing available was not [...]

We Are Wedges, a line of plush toys, complete with a backstory and online comic book, was launched by creator, Benita Hsueh the spring of 2008.  Inspired by shapes, Benita created a line of wedge-shaped people and creatures, featuring Brie the Wedge, her boyfriend, Walter and a host of other characters, including their pets, Gwen and Beck, who [...]

Webitor’s Note:  For the upcoming holiday season, Prospere Magazine is looking at neat gift ideas beyond just fashion and accessories.

10 lipgloss shades from Balmshell
Toronto is known to be the birthplace of many cosmetics lines, including MAC and Cargo, both of which have gone on to be celeb-favourites.  But over the last couple of years, the [...]

Leanne Baskett, a graduate of Toronto’s Ontario College of Art and Design, launched her line of hand-painted artisan bags, Mimi Vannier, the fall of 2008.  Being a self-professed “addict” to “swanky accessories,” Ms. Baskett created the line by combining her “addiction” with her background in visual art.

Jane measures 10″ (L) x 6.5″ (H) x 4″ [...]

Dora Schabel, launched in 2001, is a line of leather bags based out of Cyprus.   Hand-crafted by trained experts, each bag not only has an organic feel, but truly a sense of individuality. 
Both the structure and the lining of each bag is made with leather, which is either treated or combined with glass, metal, beads, [...]

Christine Marchuska made a big career move this year. After six years of working in the financial industry, she was ready for something different. Being unsatisfied with the amount of “green” clothing available in boutiques, Christine decided that it was time for her to realize a childhood dream of combining fashion, business, philanthropy and [...]

EllaPoe, designer
Starting from a young age, EllaPoe has had an interest in creating jewellery.  Born to Hindu Ashram and raised by western entrepreneurs, EllaPoe has always been interested in unifying these distinct philosophies.  EllaPoe’s work is also hugely inspired by the antiquity, early minimalism and her background in music.
EllaPoe was in Manhattan, training to become an [...]

Loella Medina, a jewellery designer based in New York, became interested in the process of hand-made jewellery when she was ten years old.  Her father, a civil engineer, had started to create earrings, after finding pliers and beads at a construction site.  For a while in the 1980s, Mr. Medina’s earrings were a hit with women [...]