SDI Interior Design
SDI Interior Design is a Toronto-based, privately held interior design firm founded in 1984, delivering human-centered workplace, retail, healthcare, hospitality, residential, and branded environment projects for enterprise and mid-market clients across Canada and North America.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1984
- HeadquartersToronto, Canada
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What SDI Interior Design does
SDI Interior Design, legally SDI Interior Design & Project Coordination and operating as SDI Design, is a privately held Canadian interior design firm headquartered in Toronto's Entertainment District. Founded in 1984 by Matthew Shuster as Shuster Design Inc., the firm has operated continuously for over 40 years, completing more than 15 million square feet of designed workspace across Canada and North America. Under the leadership of Principal and Chief Innovation Officer Joanne Chan, who assumed the partnership in 2007, SDI has evolved from a boutique commercial interiors studio into a multi-disciplinary, multi-sector practice covering workplace, healthcare/wellness, retail, hospitality, multi-residential, branded environments, and exhibits/installations.
The firm operates as a professional services studio delivering bespoke interior design and project coordination on a per-project, commissioned basis. Its core technology is a human-centered design methodology organized around four pillars — People, Business, Technology, and Design — applied across seven core service lines (Workplace, Residential, Retail, Wellness, Hospitality, Graphics & Branding, and Exhibits + Installations). SDI works through direct enterprise and mid-market engagement, with documented projects ranging from 2,400 SF flagship retail concepts to 95,000 SF corporate headquarters. The client roster spans financial services (IMCO, Northleaf, VIII Capital), technology (Ubisoft, Nulogy, Intelex), pharmaceutical (Novo Nordisk), media (Postmedia), and consumer brands (Mother Parkers, Misoya Ramen, Poulet Rouge).
SDI earns revenue through project-based professional services fees, with pricing determined per engagement through client consultation rather than published tiers. The firm maintains a three-principal leadership team (Joanne Chan, Glenn Cheng, and Mardi Najafi, appointed May 2024), an 11–50 employee base, and an award track record including CoreNet REmmy, ARIDO, IDS, and Retail Design Institute recognition. Geographic operations are concentrated in the Greater Toronto Area with recent cross-border activity in Manhattan. The company is privately held with no disclosed external funding.
SDI Interior Design firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- SDI Interior Design
- Legal name
- SDI Interior Design & Project Coordination
- Website
- https://sdi-design.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1984
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- SDI Interior Design is a Toronto-based, privately held interior design firm founded in 1984, delivering human-centered workplace, retail, healthcare, hospitality, residential, and branded environment projects for enterprise and mid-market clients across Canada and North America.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
SDI Interior Design industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Interior Design Services
- NAICS
- Interior Design Services (54141)
- SIC
- Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Interior Design Services (BPAHAKAB)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Commercial Interior Fit-Out (Offices & Corporate) (IMAFANAA)
Keywords
Where SDI Interior Design is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Toronto
- HQ country
- Canada
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
SDI Interior Design business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Design and Project Coordination Services: SDI generates revenue through commissioned interior design and project coordination services for commercial, institutional, and residential clients, billed on a per-project basis.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels6 records
SDI Interior Design product offering
Product offeringCore offering
SDI Interior Design is an award-winning multi-disciplinary Canadian interior design firm that delivers human-centered, evidence-based interior design and project coordination services across workplace, healthcare, retail, hospitality, residential, and branded environments. The firm works with enterprise and mid-market clients on commissioned projects, serving as designer of record from concept through realization.
Product overview
SDI Design is an award-winning multi-disciplinary Canadian interior design firm offering integrated design services across seven core practice areas: Workplace, Residential, Retail, Wellness, Hospitality, Graphics & Branding, and Exhibits + Installations. The firm operates as a unified service offering rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture, providing human-centered design solutions tailored to each client's specific needs. With over 40 years of experience and over 15 million square feet of designed workspace, the firm delivers experiential environments across workplace, healthcare, retail, hospitality, and multi-residential sectors throughout Canada and North America.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Workplace Design Human-centric workplace interior design focusing on the emotional and physical needs of users to drive organizational performance and adapt to modern work styles; delivered for enterprise and mid-market corporate clients.
- Residential Design
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 15 million square feet of designed workspace delivered across Canada
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use SDI Interior Design
Customer profileNamed customers22 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
SDI Interior Design technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
SDI Interior Design partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
SDI Interior Design competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- B+H Architects: B+H is a Toronto-headquartered global architecture and interior design firm with a comparable Canadian-roots multi-sector portfolio spanning workplace, healthcare, retail, and hospitality—directly competing with SDI for enterprise interior mandates in Canada and North America.
- Figure3: Figure3 is a Toronto-based interior design studio focused on workplace and retail environments, overlapping with SDI's workplace practice and frequently competing for the same enterprise head-office mandates.
- Cecconi Simone: Cecconi Simone is a Toronto interior design firm specializing in workplace, hospitality, and residential interiors for high-end Canadian clients, directly comparable in scale and market positioning to SDI's multi-sector studio.
- Quadrangle: Quadrangle is a Toronto design firm with a workplace, retail, and hospitality focus comparable to SDI's multi-disciplinary offering and a similar boutique-but-enterprise-leaning positioning.
Broad incumbents
- IBI Group (Arcadis IBI): IBI Group is a Toronto-based global architecture and engineering firm with substantial interior design practice for workplace, healthcare, and transit-oriented interiors, providing head-to-head competition on major Canadian enterprise projects.
- HOK: HOK is a global architecture and interior design practice with strong workplace, healthcare, and hospitality capabilities; it competes for the same enterprise accounts as SDI while operating from a much larger international footprint.
- Gensler: Gensler is the largest global design firm and a dominant incumbent in workplace, retail, and hospitality interior design with a large Toronto office; it competes with SDI on enterprise clients like Ubisoft and Postmedia from a much broader global platform.
- Flynn (formerly Moriyama & Teshima / interior practices): Flynn is a Canadian-built envelope and interiors specialist serving commercial and institutional clients across Canada; its interior fit-out practice overlaps with SDI's commercial workplace delivery for enterprises.
Regional players
- Diamond Schmitt Architects: Diamond Schmitt is a leading Canadian architecture practice with interior design work for institutional, healthcare, and workplace clients, often competing with SDI for Toronto-based enterprise commissions.
- MJMA (MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects): MJMA is a Toronto architecture firm with strong institutional and community-sector interior work, periodically competing with SDI on workplace and institutional design mandates in the Canadian market.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
SDI Interior Design social profiles
Digital presenceSDI Interior Design financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
SDI Interior Design leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
SDI Interior Design funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
SDI Interior Design M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about SDI Interior Design
What does SDI Interior Design do?
SDI Interior Design is an award-winning multi-disciplinary Canadian interior design firm that delivers human-centered, evidence-based interior design and project coordination services across workplace, healthcare, retail, hospitality, residential, and branded environments. The firm works with enterprise and mid-market clients on commissioned projects, serving as designer of record from concept through realization.
Is SDI Interior Design a public or private company?
SDI Interior Design is a private company. It is classified as management employee owned and is currently operating.
When was SDI Interior Design founded?
SDI Interior Design was founded in 1984. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is SDI Interior Design based?
SDI Interior Design is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, in the North America region.
How does SDI Interior Design make money?
One revenue line is on record: design and Project Coordination Services.
Who are SDI Interior Design's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are B+H Architects, Figure3, Cecconi Simone and Quadrangle. Broad incumbents are IBI Group (Arcadis IBI), HOK, Gensler and Flynn (formerly Moriyama & Teshima / interior practices). Regional players are Diamond Schmitt Architects and MJMA (MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects).
Does SDI Interior Design have an API?
No public API is recorded for SDI Interior Design.
What industry is SDI Interior Design in?
SDI Interior Design's product category is Interior Design Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHAKAB, Interior Design Services, with a secondary code of IMAFANAA, Commercial Interior Fit-Out (Offices & Corporate). Its NAICS code is 54141 and its SIC code is 8700.