DESIGNBUILD
He may be one-third of the ’80s rock-pop sensation Platinum Blonde and an inductee of the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame, but guitarist Sergio Galli has a knack for designing more than just music. He’s set his signature sunglasses-clad eyes on architecture — and his work is bringing serious star power to Toronto’s landscape
Sergio Galli sports his signature shades in the lavish new showroom for Sergio Galli Design | Build
BLOND AMBITION
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Cuban cigar dangles from Sergio Galli’s mouth as he waltzes into his work-in-progress, right past a sign tacked to the unfinished door that reads, “Absolutely No Smoking.” (Someone — my guess is Galli — has scrawled “Except Cuban Cigars” at the bottom.) Galli opens up his arms in presentation of what’s soon to be a grandiose foyer. Around him, the summer air sparkles with whirling bits of sunlit sawdust that billow up, up, up to an incomprehensibly high ceiling like concert confetti. “The stairs will curve up here, and there’ll be a huge door right there, all glass,” Galli tells me, his hands doing even more of the talking as he gestures
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wildly, trying to effectively translate his vision. “Isn’t it beautiful?” While it’s not set to be completed until the spring of 2017, this soon-to-be mansion is already poetry in structural form, and the look in Galli’s eyes as they gobble up his progress is that of a composer inking his next masterpiece: heart-thumping, mind-burstingly excited. Nestled in the rolling hills of King City, Ont., the 10,000-square-foot abode is glorious but gracefully so with its 11-car garage, indoor terrace and I don’t know how many turrets. It’s still in the skeleton stage, but it shimmers with the kind of opulence that renders you paralyzed for a moment, mouth gaping and gaze starry. Galli tours me around like it’s his own home, and for now, it is — his
signature can be seen, felt, in every room, every detail. Out on the sun-drenched lawn, Galli pulls up two chairs and we settle in under a tree, with me fighting the urge to say in my best British accent, “Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin.” And he does begin, telling me the story of how he first cracked into music, and suddenly I’m reminded that I’m in the presence of a full-blown rock star. The role of home designer suits him so well, I almost forgot about his legendary status as an award-winning songwriter, onethird of a triple-platinum-selling rock band and a teenage heartthrob. Galli was a 17-year-old with a guitar and plans to study architecture when Platinum Blonde came together in FALL 2016
PHOTOS BY FARZAM HOSSEINDOUST
WRITTEN BY AMANDA STOREY