Canada's largest juried craft and design show — the One of a Kind Show at Exhibition Place brings 600+ Canadian artists, designers, and makers together twice a year (spring and Christmas). Original jewellery, ceramics, fashion, textiles, and art — everything sold directly by the people who made it.
Neighbourhood: Exhibition Place · Address: Exhibition Place, Toronto, ON · Hours: Spring show (May) and Christmas show (late Nov–early Dec) | Check oneofakindshow.com
Why Visit
Meet Canada’s creative talent face-to-face while shopping for hundreds of unique, small-batch finds you won’t see in stores. The show is perfect for anyone seeking original art, one-off jewellery, or design-forward gifts straight from the maker.
What Makes It Unique
Unlike typical craft markets, every exhibitor at the One of a Kind Show is carefully juried, ensuring high quality and no mass production. It’s a direct-to-customer model—everything you see is made, not imported, and creators actually run their own booths, so you can ask about techniques and stories. No other Toronto event matches its scale or focus on Canadian makers.
If you like buying things with an actual human story behind them, the One of a Kind Show is one of Toronto’s best market outings, full stop. It takes over Exhibition Place twice a year, once in spring and again in the run-up to Christmas, and it’s less “craft fair” in the casual church-basement sense and more a massive, juried showcase of Canadian makers who really know what they’re doing. We’re talking 600-plus artists, designers, and food makers under one roof, all selling their own work directly. That part matters. You’re not browsing anonymous inventory — you’re chatting with the jeweller who soldered the ring, the ceramicist who glazed the mug, the textile artist who printed the scarf.
What actually happens there is simple: you wander for hours, tell yourself you’re “just looking,” and then somehow leave with a bag full of beautifully made things you didn’t know you needed. The range is huge, but it’s thoughtfully curated, so it doesn’t feel random. You’ll see delicate handmade jewellery beside bold contemporary ceramics, smart Canadian fashion, woven textiles, prints, woodwork, bath goods, leather accessories, glassware, and small-batch food products that make very good hostess gifts if you’re more practical than sentimental. It’s one of the few places where you can buy a pair of earrings, a serving bowl, an art print, and fancy maple something in the same afternoon and feel like all of it makes sense.
The Christmas show is the one I’d tell most visitors to prioritize. Honestly, it’s the best gift-shopping event in Toronto if you want presents that don’t feel generic or last-minute. The energy is busy but cheerful, and people tend to be in a genuinely good mood because everything around them is original and made in Canada. If you can, go the first weekend. The stock is freshest then, and the best pieces do sell out. By the later days, some booths are picked over, especially if you’re after specific sizes in clothing or the most popular jewellery styles.
A practical note: wear comfortable shoes and give yourself more time than you think you need. This isn’t a quick pop-in unless you’re unusually disciplined. Two to three hours is easy, longer if you stop to talk to makers, which you should. They’re usually happy to explain process, materials, and what makes their work different. That’s half the fun. There’s an entry fee, so I’d only go if you’re in the mood to actually browse and maybe buy, not just kill 20 minutes.
Getting there is straightforward enough. Exhibition GO is the easiest if the timing works for you. Otherwise, take Line 2 to Dufferin and head south. Exhibition Place is big and a little impersonal as a venue, but once you’re inside the show, it feels warm, bustling, and pleasantly full of temptation. Even if you’re not a big shopper, it’s a great place to see what Canadian makers are doing right now — and you’ll probably leave with at least one thing wrapped in tissue paper.