Alum Spotlight: Mary Ratcliffe (BDes ’11) – What happens after the big idea?

A dining table is going to get scratched.

For Mary Ratcliffe, those marks can become part of what gives a piece meaning.

“So much in a family, in a life, happens around a table. It’s an arena for all of these important things to happen: celebrations, conversations and everyday moments,” says the Toronto-based furniture designer. 

Over time, the evidence of those lives begins to show. Ratcliffe likes the idea that furniture can hold those stories, carrying traces of the people who have lived with it before perhaps being passed on to another generation.

Her appreciation for objects that endure began long before she started designing them. Growing up around her father’s woodshop and in an extended family that valued craft, Ratcliffe was surrounded by furniture and objects that were kept rather than replaced. She became fascinated by how things were made.

Years later, visiting centuries-old buildings in Europe sharpened her thinking about the lifespan of the materials she works with.

“Trees can live for hundreds of years,” she says. “These materials have baked-in longevity.”

That thinking now informs the furniture produced by Mary Ratcliffe Studio, where Ratcliffe and her team work primarily in solid wood. If the material has the potential to endure for generations, she believes the object made from it should be given that same opportunity. Making something worth keeping, however, takes time.

Ratcliffe learned that firsthand while studying Environmental Design at OCAD University. She entered the program with architecture in mind, but her experience there broadened her understanding of what it takes to develop a creative practice.

She recalls spending long hours in OCAD U’s studios, often staying until close. By fourth year, Environmental Design students worked alongside one another in dedicated studio spaces, sharing ideas, critiquing each other’s work and figuring things out together.

“I loved being in the studio and the cross-pollination of ideas that happened there,” she says.

That experience of learning through doing stayed with her. After graduation, Ratcliffe took on an eclectic mix of independent projects, from furniture and lighting to interiors and custom commissions, often figuring out how to make them along the way.

Then someone asked if she could completely restore a 1976 Airstream trailer and she accepted the challenge. The 10-month project pushed Ratcliffe into unfamiliar territory, from fabrication to plumbing and electrical work. By the end, she had also figured out something more important: what she wanted to build next. 

Furniture. 

The funds earned from the project allowed Ratcliffe to hire someone, move into a shared shop and focus on developing a collection of her own. That decision laid the foundation for Mary Ratcliffe Studio.

Today, Mary Ratcliffe Studio has grown to a team of six, with a collection of nearly 40 pieces and an expanding client base in the United States. Spanning tables, seating, mirrors and other objects, the collection brings solid wood together with materials such as marble, bronze and leather. Each piece is handmade by the small Toronto team, an approach Ratcliffe believes leaves something perceptible in the finished object.

“Our work just feels handmade,” she says. “It feels special.”

Maintaining that quality as the studio grows means thinking well beyond the initial design. For Ratcliffe, bringing a new piece into the collection is as much about how it will be made as the idea itself.

“The creative part is a moment,” Ratcliffe says. “Then it very quickly becomes: how can we take this sketch and these ideas and make them repeatable and producible?”

From there, a new piece moves into prototyping, bringing questions of structure, material and durability. Beyond the object itself are the less visible demands of sustaining a design business.

Ratcliffe readily admits that much of it isn’t particularly glamorous. Over the past several years, she and her team have refined everything from production and finishing to sales, shipping and delivery. The challenge now is to reach more people without losing the attention to detail that distinguishes the furniture in the first place.

As Mary Ratcliffe Studio builds its presence in the United States, Ratcliffe also hopes to see Canadian designers occupy a larger place in the North American craft and design landscape.

Her advice to students and emerging artists and designers reflects the practical approach that has shaped her own career: do the work and put yourself forward.

“Don’t get in your head about getting a no or not getting replies,” Ratcliffe says. “Keep going. So much of it is not giving up and continuing to show up.”

Explore more of Mary Ratcliffe’s work at Mary Ratcliffe Studio.

CARVER Collection, Spring 2026

Knox Dining Table and Viggo Side Table, Joue Collection, Spring 2025