Fabriq Forum
Conversations at the intersection of design, business, and place.
The Fabriq Forum convenes designers, makers, and entrepreneurs building brands and businesses rooted in Montreal. We believe the city’s assets, constraints, and quirks produce distinctive work. Our conversations explore why people choose Montreal, how place shapes what they make, and the different paths forward: focusing on the local market or scaling nationally and internationally.
Learning from the people who power Montreal’s creative economy.
Independent makers & entrepreneurs
Montreal’s cultural identity and economic vitality are inseparable. Independent designers, makers, and entrepreneurs play a disproportionate role in shaping how the city looks, feels, and functions. Fabriq highlights the people who sustain Montreal — making the economics, compromises, and strategies behind their work visible and legible.
Through the lens of fashion and design
Fabriq is rooted in fashion and design, using them as a lens to explore the wider ecosystem. Conversations extend into retail, food and hospitality, creative services, and the economics of independent work — especially where culture and commerce intersect. Our goal: candid conversations about what works, what doesn’t, and what it costs.
Your guide:
Christine Prefontaine
Episodes
Episodes produced by BAKANO incubator in collaboration with Fabriq.
Episode 1. Philippe Manh / Philippe Manh is a Montreal-based editorial fashion photographer and creative producer known for his bold, spontaneous visual style. He collaborates with fashion brands, designers, and publications, creating provocative and playful imagery that blends artistic vision with advertising expertise.
Episode 2. Chantal Durivage / Chantal Durivage built the M.A.D. Festival (mode, art, divertissement) as a witness to Montreal’s creative ecosystem. She has spent 25+ years watching designers adapt, survive, and occasionally thrive — from a front-row vantage point beyond any single brand or media outlet. In this conversation, she’s frank about what that looks like: Creators working in conditions that don’t match their talent, a funding system that classifies fashion as economic development rather than culture, and fast fashion giants who’ve made buying cheap feel like an act of community — selling belonging and identity at 15 dollars per garment. She’s also, stubbornly, an optimist.
Fabric + fabrique
The Fabriq Forum takes its name from fabric and fabrique, reflecting Montreal’s bilingual character, its fashion and textile heritage, and the weave of individuals and teams shaping the city.
Help shape what we cover
Send us an email to receive episode updates and event invitations — or to suggest who we should talk to next.
Photo copyright celinecelines; used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.