Interior designer Kimberley Seldon visited Paris in 1989 and fell in love with the city: its food, its flea markets and, of course, its architecture and design.
At the time she was an interior design student and the trip opened a window with a view of where her career could go: into a world where good design, celebrated cities and fabulous food are inseparable.
"(The trip) showed me that there was a huge gap in my learning at school," says Toronto-based Seldon, the name behind Kimberley Seldon Design Group and the face of HGTV's Design for Living, which ran for five seasons.
"I wasn't going to be able to 'get' how to decorate out of a textbook; I was going to have to go and see how it was really supposed to work. I think for me that trip was just an epiphany."
Seldon took her discovery to heart and parlayed her talent -she is known for her classic good taste with a modern edge -into a successful career as an interior designer, writer, television host and magazine editor.
Through it all she never lost her passion for travel. Her company's Design Express holidays take groups to European and North American destinations, with a focus on architecture and design.
Now, Seldon is bringing design, travel and food together in an online format with her latest project, Dabble magazine. As far as she knows, it's the first Canadian publication of its kind, and the only one where an interior designer is editor in-chief.
"Dabble has really been a process of seeing that good design is universal," Seldon says. "It doesn't matter if it's in Denver or Norway or Calgary -- if it's good, it's good. And if it's good, it likely is good because it follows very strict principles and it has roots based in history.
"Dabble is just a way of finally being able to share all these destinations with people and give them really great advice."
Seldon decided to combine the lifestyle elements of design, food and travel because of how well they complement one another. In its premier issue, the free bimonthly magazine explored the food, culture, fine art and architecture of Prague, uncovered Nashville's gems (think fried pickles and a happening honky-tonk scene), dished up easy recipes for dudes that will guarantee makeup sex; and demystified the design process through Calgary contributor Nyla Free's column, Reality Check.
Dabble's target demographic is women and men between the ages of 28 and 58, but because of its international content, they could be European or American as easily as Canadian.
"Dabble's about being playful and having fun. We take the content super serious, but bring it across in a way that I think is really fun and approachable," says Seldon.
Online magazines have another advantage in that they aren't limited by space (that is traditionally dictated by ad sales). In Dabble, Seldon has the freedom to run 10 gorgeous full-sized home interior, food or travel photos.
And since the online world is interactive, readers can simply click through to a design store's site -- or a tourism board's web page -- instead of flipping to the back of the magazine for those details.
"It becomes a very well-rounded experience," says Seldon, who is careful not to diss the printed word. "We're not suggesting people are going to give up print. People will never give up print -- nor should they."
It's also a reading experience that spans the globe instead of being limited to Canadian cities, homes or cuisine.
"It's really fun for me to be able to showcase global design," Seldon says. "It does open up the world."
It's free to subscribe to Dabble magazine. Go to dabblemag.com
-- Postmedia News
