A Dish with One Spoon

Joni is an open-concept, 90-seat restaurant serving globally inspired fare. The dining room is bookended by a sculptural staircase and an exquisite ceramic creation featuring 12,000 beads by Algonquin artist Nadia Myre. The artwork is derived from the idea of the Wampum belt as a record of Indigenous histories and the concept of "A Dish with One Spoon," This ancient expression is used to describe how the land can be shared to the mutual benefit of all its inhabitants and how the sharing/exchange of wampum belts between indigenous communities/with European settlers acted as a record of a diplomatic agreement and a mutual recognition of sharing land, resources and overall cooperating as a larger community. The idea is that the "dish" represents the shared land, and the "spoon" symbolizes the individuals living on and using the resources from the land in a spirit of mutual respect and cooperation. The artwork employs indigenous themes and aesthetics combined with a non-traditional storytelling modality to impart this knowledge.