Monika Sofrenovic is the Marketing Specialist at CIRA. She is a recent graduate of Carleton University with a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Marketing.
When you put your creativity and soul into something, seeing the results of your hard work can be oh-so-satisfying. And for Kat and Cameron O’Neill of 2LS Design Inc., all they need to do is go for a stroll around their neighbourhood.
Born during the pandemic, and out of a desire for more creative freedom, 2LS is a full-service architectural and interior design firm that’s garnered national attention with its sleek, boundary-pushing modern style.
2LS specializes in custom residential and mixed-use commercial spaces—but with a hyper-local focus that includes their own Greater Toronto Area community.
“Pretty much everything we do happens within a five-minute walk of our house in the GTA,” says Cameron. “It means the world to us to be a local Canadian business. We are fortunate enough to have a large amount of our projects occur in the same neighbourhood we live in.”
“A lot of our clients have become friends for that reason. We have a lot of people who live in the area, call us over and are like, ‘We need you to come over and re-stage our house, and while you’re here, let’s have a glass of wine,’” says Kat.
Show(ing) and tell(ing) with 2LSdesign.ca
When it comes to their digital presence, Kat and Cameron use their website, 2LSdesign.ca, primarily as a place to showcase the progress of their projects from first floor plan, to final, finished product.
Kat says that when 2LS first started off as the new kid on the block with lots to prove, their website was “absolutely vital” to building credibility and trust with clients.
“At that point, nothing we had started was physically built yet, so our website was a tangible way for us to show examples of floor plans and even past projects we had done,” explains Kat. “When people are spending lots of money to have you design their dream home from scratch you can’t say, ‘Oh, we’ve never done a project before and don’t have a website or portfolio to show you.’”
“Our website provides comfort to clients. It gives them a little more insight into who we are, what we’re capable of and ultimately what they can achieve by working with us,” says Cameron. “And for people who don’t live close to our projects, we can still give them that holistic view of what we’ve completed to date.”
Kat says that they chose GoDaddy as their website builder platform and appreciate how easily they were able to create a professional-looking website.
“Neither of us came from a graphic design or online platform background—so this is the first time we’ve ever built a website, and we’re learning as we go along,” says Kat. “GoDaddy’s customer service has been amazing. They’ve emailed us to ask if everything is going well, and if we need help with anything.”
Choosing .CA reflects 2LS’ deep local ties
The O’Neill’s chose .CA for their website not only because they work exclusively within southern Ontario, but because they wanted to reflect their relationship with local clients, communities and trades.
“Having a .com just didn’t reflect who we are, what we’re doing and who we work with,” says Cameron. “It didn’t feel right.”
“For us, it’s important that clients know we’re Canadian, we service Canadians, and are building a family and business here. People know we’re emotionally invested in their projects because we live here too,” says Kat. “There’s a real brand awareness that comes with our .CA, and people are starting to recognize it when they drive around the neighbourhood and see a 2LS-designed house.”
Blueprint for the future
Looking ahead, Kat and Cameron hope to eventually expand their reach outside of the GTA and take their unique designs to other cities and municipalities.
“We’d like to take on more projects, for someone to drive by outside of our neighbourhood and say, ‘That’s a 2LS project,’” says Kat. “We’d like add more employees and keep pushing our industry in new directions.”
As for their website, the duo has a few plans sketched out—namely an e-commerce platform where they can sell interior goods and accents to clients that want the perfect finishing touch for their newly refurbished spaces.
“The biggest thing for us right now is finding the right clients and projects to take on,” adds Cameron. “We’re looking at everything in terms of the long-term future of 2LS, not just the here and now.”
Follow 2LS Design on Instagram for all their latest project updates, reveals and more!
