Style Manual

C O M P L E T E

I N S I D E

The Book forMen

T H E E S S E N T I A L R E F E R E N C E F O R T H E M O D E R N M A N

SPRING / SUMMER

2 0 1 5

The Book For Men S

PR

ING

/ SU

MM

ER

20

15

M ichael Wekerle won’t take off his sunglasses. Not that we asked him to. Or that we care. It’s just that we’re here at his home, in his bathroom, and he’s still wearing his aviators. Fair enough. The Wek pretty well does as he pleases—in business, life and, it turns out, home decorating.

You know him best from CBC’s Dragon’s Den, the popular show where Canada’s richest people bid to finance the entrepreneurial dreams of Canada’s least self-aware. Wekerle is the show’s shining star, a lovable eccentric with a knack for finding value where you might not otherwise see any. Rumour has it that off the show, on his own dime, he purchased Toronto’s El Mocambo, a crumbling music venue most famous for once hosting The Rolling Stones. Whether he owns it or not, he’s played the venue a few times himself. What else do you do with two rooms full of guitars?

Step inside his sprawling Forest Hill home, and you’ll see immediately what’s hidden behind those ubiquitous shades. He’s a family man, first and foremost. A dog lover. And a wildy counterintuitive art lover and curator, the kind of guy who’d stick a Rodin next to a ping-pong table—in his dining room.

Story byPeter Saltsman

Photography byJosh Fee

Inside Michael Wekerle’s Dragon’s Den

The Eccentric Aesthetic

44Design

“The Rodin sculpture came

through a bunch of dif-

ferent hands to get here. It was meant for a mu-seum in Barrie, and it was a bit of a scandal. I

first knew about it in the early ’80s, when a

collector bought it. Then he

defaulted, and I bought it from

him a few years ago. This was

a post-humous recasting of the

original.

”

“This piece is

called Elle. I said it looked like my wife but it’s just a person called Elle. It’s quite a unique piece. At night when you look at it,

when the light’s a bit lower, it’s

like a pencil drawing—but it’s just nails

and one piece of string.

”

“I have 120

guitars. They belonged to the likes of

Kurt Cobain, Bo Didley, Les Paul, Dire Straits, the

Stones, Pink Floyd, Axl Rose, Bon Jovi, porn stars, Mötley Crüe, Chuck

Berry, Gordon Lightfoot, Elton John and Bernie

Taupin, B.B. King, Robbie

Robertson and The Band, Roger

Waters, Joni Mitchell. The list

goes on.

”

“ I rarely remem-ber the artists’ names. I just

love the pieces. It’s more impor-tant than who the person is,

like Rodin or Re-noir or Van Gogh

or whoever. If you love the

piece, you love the piece. On this one, I love all the different

mediums—it looks cool with

the light shining on it.

”

The Eccentric Aesthetic

“I have to say, the dogs have been

good for the children since the passing of their mother. It helped the

process. It defi-nitely creates responsibility.

But you have to enforce respon-

sibility. I have nine dogs now, between here and my place in Caledon.

The nicest dog is a beautiful

chocolate Lab.

”

“This is where I keep my hats.

It’s great to have them like this so

I can pick one when I go out, or just throw it back on there when I come

home from work.

”

“I guess my aesthetic is

eccentric. It’s hard to describe more than that. I’m kind of on the run a lot, you know, so

it’s ‘Style on the Run.’ It’s certain-

ly rock ’n’ roll. It’s a little Mick Jagger, I think.

”

“I mostly just use

my iPod and listen to music in headphones.

But I just bought a bunch of new

vinyl, and I’m in the process of setting up

a whole sound system with a record player and all that.

”

The Eccentric Aesthetic