PoutX Is Studio Author’s Red-Hot Reinvention of the Injectables Clinic
Designing desire.
Aiming to shift the outmoded image of nonsurgical cosmetic procedures when launching her own injectables clinic, Megan Kozak enlisted Alex Simpson and Jayme Million—co-founders of local practice Studio Author—to craft a daring space for her clinic, PoutX on Toronto’s King Street East. “We knew it needed to be bold,” Simpson explains. And so the decision to go with a particular red lifted from Kozak’s signature lip tone was selected to anchor PoutX’s graphic identity. With nods to flagship stores of global fashion brands like Acne and Balenciaga, where materials are unexpectedly layered, the effect, Million suggests, is more akin to a Berlin nightclub than a medical clinic. A prism of floating crimson acrylic partitions and vertical bands of neon lighting frame the processes behind Kozak’s patented Botox method, Architox (a technique that customizes dosage based on muscle size and strength, preventing overcompensation).
In a space not much larger than 800 square feet, a generous 19-foot-long stainless steel counter serves as reception, lounge, and even a place for seminars and training sessions. “She’s trying to get rid of the stigma of getting work done,” Simpson adds of the decision to challenge the typically isolating qualities of clinical spaces and waiting rooms, “so we decided to make it a social experience where guests sit around the welcome desk together.” To further toy with “the idea of privacy,” the designers say, two treatment rooms wrapped in the signature red screens sit immediately behind the gridded counter. Visible to those at reception, each includes a plush chair, a large consultation mirror, adjustable lighting, a workspace, and an integrated storage unit that discreetly conceals the injectables and medical disposal. Circular features—cabinet pulls, pink upholstered poufs, and a grand convex mirror—soften the sharp metallic accents and monochromatic hues.
Such aplomb and “unapologetic boldness,” according to the designers, echo across each detail—down to the blush walls, floor, and ceiling—that celebrate rather than conceal treatments. The result is far more than lip service. It’s an environment as meticulous and exacting as the procedures that take place there, enhancing the otherwise sterile clinical experience with dimension, vitality, and attitude in line with Kozak’s tagline for the characteristic outcome of her treatments: “HydratedNOTinflated.”
Photos by Niamh Barry.
