Metz Design Group is a Toronto-based interior design studio creating refined, modern spaces for commercial and residential clients across the GTA and beyond. We bring together technical rigor and creative intelligence to design environments that feel calm, intentional, and built to last.
Metz Design Group was founded in 2013 by Ioanna Metz Ionescu, a former mechanical engineer who transitioned into interior design, bringing a unique technical and creative perspective to the field. With years of experience, the studio is dedicated to shaping thoughtful, elegant, and sophisticated environments.
Ioanna is a registered interior designer with the Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario (ARIDO), the highest professional qualification for interior designers in Ontario, and holds National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) certification in the United States. Her dual background in engineering and design brings a rare balance of analytical precision and creative vision to every project, resulting in spaces that are both beautiful and intelligently resolved.
She leads the studio’s projects on the belief that exceptional interiors require both clarity of process and confidence in aesthetic judgment — combining technical rigor with a refined, thoughtful design approach.
Design with intention. Build with care.
For every project, we adopt a holistic approach, considering the architecture, scale, budget, and the people and business within the space, all while keeping the long-term objectives in mind. Our work is rooted in clarity and elevated through refined materiality, warm tones, thoughtful lighting, and complex detailing.
We don’t decorate. We design with precision, deep construction literacy, and a clear understanding of how a space will look, feel, and function years after the project is complete.
With a team of creative thought leaders, a tailored design process, and unique research methods, Figure3 continues to deliver high-performing workplaces that align with a company’s vision and values, amplify company culture, and transform how businesses operate.
We lead every project from first sketch to final walkthrough, handling concept, documentation, sourcing, and construction oversight under one roof. Clients work with one studio, one point of view, and one team accountable for the whole result.
As ARIDO-registered and NCIDQ-certified professionals, we bring fluency in Ontario Building Code, zoning, and Committee of Adjustment processes. This expertise removes friction, anticipates issues, and gives clients confidence at every regulatory turn.
Our aesthetic is warm, layered, and quietly confident. Clean lines meet considered materials, architectural detail, and thoughtful lighting to create spaces that feel calm, intentional, and timeless rather than trend-bound.
We specify with intent. Every finish, fixture, and furnishing is selected for performance, longevity, and craft, drawing on long-standing trade relationships to bring the right pieces into every project.
We find the alternatives others miss. When a specified material is out of reach, we know which substitutions hold the design intent and which ones compromise it, aligning ambition with budget without diluting the result.
We work the way we communicate: clearly, directly, and with full accountability. Clients are kept informed, advocated for, and treated as partners in the process, never managed around it.
Transparent, direct communication at every stage
High standards in design and documentation
Coordination with contractors, engineers, and city officials
Strong advocacy for client, project, and community
A seamless experience from first conversation to final detail
Modern but not cold. Luxurious but not flashy. Clean lines layered with warm materials. Thoughtful lighting and architectural details, including coffers, semi-columns, and built-ins, that give a space character without noise.
The spaces we design feel intentional, calm, refined, and quietly intelligent.
Allan Guinan, Caroline Hughes and Chris Wright founded the company in 1995, with a design vision and a philosophy that still grounds who the company is today. The trio instinctively understood that it was essential to be able to combine robust strategic planning with a considered creative vision to deliver superlative spaces for clients.
Formed by combining two established firms, Guinan and Wright’s Figure3 with Hughes’ Network Design, the multi-disciplinary nature of the firm was codified from day one with a client mix that included corporate workplaces and retail design and would subsequently expand to include residential development.
As the company grew, so did the curiosity to explore new avenues and approaches. Early on, the firm championed an approach that seeks to understand the people we are designing for before rushing to design solutions. Paired with a forward-thinking approach to design founded on a European aesthetic, our reputation as a design firm whose approach was as considered as it was creative blossomed.
