Where Montréal’s Creative Pulse Took Shape
Laïka was never just a place — it was a pulse, a creative hearth where Montréal learned to dream differently. Morning coffee hub, afternoon refuge, nighttime sound laboratory — Laïka was that rare space where boundaries dissolved. Designers, musicians, architects, stylists, chefs, thinkers, wanderers — everyone walked in for a drink and walked out with an idea, a conversation, or a spark that often shaped the city.
It was there, between two conversations, two improvised mixes, two flashes of intuition, that the idea for the SOUK first emerged. A generation was inventing itself, bending rules, and Laïka was its epicentre. A place of convergence, boldness, and innocence, it gave everyone permission to create — and to create together. The SOUK is simply the physical manifestation of that spirit: a space to gather, to showcase what emerges when creativity circulates freely.
In its early days, Laïka was also physically present at the first editions of the SOUK — with its founder Bruno Ricciardi-Rigault spinning vinyls from local artists and musicians throughout the day, bringing Montréal’s soundscape into the Fair and blending music and design into one shared experience.
For this 20th edition, that thread naturally returns. We celebrate two decades of design in Montréal, but also two decades of stories born in places like Laïka — spaces where ideas meet before they are fully formed. This year, past and present weave together; generations, disciplines, and ways of imagining the city converse in a single breath.
— Edition 6 / Archives 2008
— Edition 5 / Archives 2007
Reviving Laïka’s spirit at SOUK #20 is not an exercise in nostalgia — it is an acknowledgment that certain spaces continue to exist through us. At SOUK APÉRO curated by Laïka, in the bar where we toast to creativity, and in the spontaneous encounters between visitors and designers, that same pulse returns.
Each evening from 5PM to 9PM, from November 25 to 30, the SOUK APÉRO comes alive with a daily DJ program, featuring a rotating lineup including DJ Maüs, Mossa, Pfreud, Emeline BK, Vincent Lemieux, Claire, Slim Jim and many more — with surprises popping up throughout the week. Check in every day to discover who will be shaping the evening’s atmosphere.
And then comes Friday night, November 28. A full-scale anniversary celebration — not a footnote, not an aside, but the moment where everything converges. When the DJs take over, when the room ignites, when twenty years of design, community, and creative energy erupt into a single unforgettable night.
Laïka sparked ideas and projects. The SOUK carried that momentum into Montréal’s creative scene.
And this year, we invite you to step into that story once more.
Open to the Public: Nov 29 – Dec 3 2023
