Who you'd be working with

HeartSpace is comprised of the design-savvy husband and wife design team, Lizzie and Peter Shanks. Their affiliate venture, TheCreativeMcGuyver, is the design/build arm of their business .

In combination, they are a formidable duo whose world-class work is highly respected in the field. Toronto-based until 2003, they are now relocated in the historic town of Lakefield, Ontario, in the Kawartha Lakes.

Lizzie's unstoppable creativity and vision, along with her bent for detail orientation, organization, and respect for her clients is one side of the coin. Peter's artisan/fine craftsman's gift for making manifest all ideas coming his way with unparalleled patience is the flip side, making their team uniquely one-of-a-kind.

Early in her career, Lizzie's design education began as a display artist in Toronto for many major Toronto-based retailers, eventually managing their creative teams. Her love of writing, innovation, and design eventually drew her to photographic styling of interiors, fashion, and food for a number of corporations and Canadian publications, writing her own articles in the process. She was invited to be a regular contributing editor with Canadian Select Homes Magazine, and has also been a contributor to Canadian House and Home, Harrowsmith Country Life, Chatelaine Magazine, and Canadian Living, to name a few. During her tenure as contributing editor, she made regular appearances on Cityline, and episodes of HGTV's Small Spaces. Simultaneously, her private design consultation business flourished as magazine readership, and television viewers appreciating her work, sought her services. The quality of design opportunities, and breadth of her work experience has provided a very solid base for HeartSpace Creative Design. Lizzie's personal creativity is fed further by her continuing involvement as a professional musician with the jazz/world ensemble, Besharah.

Peter is an award-winning graduate of Sheridan School of Design in the Furniture Design program. He is the son of sculptor, Dr.Howard Shanks, and fiber artist, Jinny Shanks, and studied sculpture with the iconic Canadian sculptor, Francis Gage. Peter's early childhood years saw him toddling around what was then called, "The Shack", The Group of Seven's Tom Thomson's studio in Toronto's Rosedale. As a result, making art is as much a part of him as breathing. His noteworthy early exposure is without a doubt the reason for his love of making art in general, without specific preference to medium.
Peter worked as a graphic designer for many years for Dylex, where then co-worker, Lizzie and he shared the same art space. In 1988, recognizing the kindred spirit in each other, the pair married. Soon thereafter, Peter became Creative Director at Toronto advertising agency, designing for clients such as Nike, British Airways, The Toronto Raptors, to name but a few. In 2003, the time to return to his furniture design and fine art roots seemed right, and the collaboration that had always existed between the pair became official.