About

Carina Amelio founded Design and Decorum on a single belief. How a space is presented, whether it is going to market or being lived in, is one of the most consequential decisions anyone makes about a home. Most of those decisions deserve more intention than they get.

That belief is grounded in 10 years working in the Set Decoration department in film and television as a Buyer. A role built entirely on finding exactly the right object, at exactly the right scale, for the right environment, under a deadline that does not move.

She is an active member of IATSE Local 873, Toronto’s motion picture technicians’ union  and continues to work on film and television productions alongside Design and Decorum.

In that work, you learn to see space the way a camera does. Every element is either contributing to the story the environment tells, or it is working against it. Every design element or furniture piece must own its place or it goes.

You also learn to source. Quickly, precisely and without settling for close enough. That skill, knowing where to find the right piece and how to recognize it when you do, is one of the most useful things a design practice can offer.

Design and Decorum grew out of that background. The same precision. The same standard that nothing stays unless it belongs. The same interest in the outcome: spaces that function properly, feel considered, and hold up under the scrutiny of a buyer walking through on a Tuesday afternoon, or a homeowner who has finally stopped adjusting things and simply enjoys being in their space.