XAVIER MASSÉ
DESIGNER | EDUCATOR | LEADER
As a natural leader, designer, educator, artist, and explorer, I am driven to collaborate with teams that uphold ambitious standards, champion innovation and creativity, and prioritize inclusivity through collaborative and co-creative practices. My work has fostered dynamic opportunities within the art and design education community, building meaningful partnerships and impactful projects with key collaborators.
During the summer of 2025, witnessing the wonders of what the arts and design can do to the development of human beings, personally and professionally, I was inspired to write a paper entitled "STE[A]M is SM[ART]".
Canada leaders are setting a new direction to face a changing world and expressed the ambition to be "at the table and not on the menu". Educators need to look first at our workforce and plan how to up-skill and re-skill our futures workers, game changers and leaders.
It only takes 15 minutes to read.
WORK
Leveraging more than 30 years of experience in the field of art and design education, visual communication, experiential and interactive design, I decided to give back to the community when I started to teach (in 2010) which lead to managing academic programs and then running schools.
I left my homeland in the southwest of France and landed in Toronto the year the Skydome went up in 1989. After a short stunt in advertising I quickly caught the Multimedia bug. Many moons later I look back and understand that each project had its own course while sharing key fundamentals.
I follow a co-creative and collaborative process that allows inter disciplinary design teams to be creative and innovative while guaranteeing the project to be delivered on target (strategy, timing and budget).
I have to thank my parents for encouraging me to pursue my interest in drawing and painting when I was a kid. Now, I wish I had more time to practice more often. Anyhow, once in a while I grab my paints, markers and iPad to capture our fascinating and complex world.
BIOGRAPHY
69 Dearbourne Avenue, Toronto ON M4K 1M6
“Ce n'est point dans l'objet que réside le sens des choses, mais dans la démarche.” -- Antoine de Saint‐Exupéry
Xavier Massé (he/his/him/il/lui)
Natural leader, designer, educator, artist, and explorer.
As an international veteran of the creative industries, my expertise in art, design and digital interactive media led me to believe in listening, inspiring, explaining, showing, learning and exchanging ideas and ventures. Through my work with young designers and artists, I remain deeply in touch with the experimental edge of emerging trends, and the possibilities of tomorrow. I believe in the right balance and complementarities between art, design research, strategy, conceptualization, and prototyping. Along the way I earned a few awards with the Advertising and Design Club of Canada [ADCC], the Horizon Interactive Awards, the Design and Art Direction [D&AD] community based in London England, and the EDF “Sharing Energy 2030” international Challenge.
In 2023, I took the leadership role of dean of Fleming College, Haliburton School of Art and Design where primary missions such as the stabilization of the academic certificates and diplomas, the development of the Continuing Education programs and re connecting the school with key partners and community members. This was not my first experience as dean, in early 2016 I took on the roles of interim Dean of ECV Creative Schools & Community Paris campuses (500 students) as well as of Director of International Curriculum Development. It was a unique opportunity to go back to my roots, being a graduate of ECV, an internationally renowned school, where I obtained my degree (in Paris in 1988) with a BA in Art Direction and Design in visual communication. It was during this time that I had the honour and great pleasure to spearhead the project of opening a design school in partnership with the Whistling Woods International in Mumbai India. Also at the same time, I created and implemented the master’s degree in design strategy which gave students the prospect to study in France, China and Canada.
When the interim mission ended in 2017, I came back to teach and coordinate the interaction design programs at George Brown College School of Design (Centre for the Arts and Design and Information technology). During that time, I did have several opportunities to develop and modify the curriculums for both these programs. Also, since I started at GBC, my involvement with the Research and Innovation department had been increasing every year. I started as a PI (Principal Investigator) on multiple projects, and then moved on to business development, scoping potential projects and fostering relationships with the industry. As a supporter of work integrated learning, every semester I brought new capstone projects in partnership with industry allies of all kinds from non-for-profit organizations to successful well-established corporations (Loblaw Digital, Home Depot, Canadian Canoe Museum, Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition…).
I started to teach Design Strategy, System Design (products and services) and Design Thinking at the Institute Without Boundaries and Interaction Design program at the Toronto George Brown College, School of Design in 2010. In between 2012 and 2016 I took part of the Digifest Toronto steering committee; a festival celebrating the future of education, creativity, entrepreneurship, game and technology. During this period, I also cofounded Relay, an experiential and event design agency, where he was the senior creative and strategy director.
Prior to the creation of Relay, I was the senior creative director of WOLFSON BELL a live event & motion graphics production studio in Toronto. And prior to that, at the very end of the 2Oth century, I became the managing director of the web agency MEDIASYSTEM INTERACTIVE owned by PUBLICIS GROUP in Paris. Throughout my career, I have developed original, inspiring, creative and interactive “memorable moments” for renowned companies such as, 3 Suisses, Auchan, Renault, Apple, Toshiba, Disney, Cap Gemini, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, Accenture, Scotia Bank, Toronto Board of Trade, Canadian Football League, National Magazine Awards, Toronto Life and much more.
Whenever possible I likes to spend time with my tribe (spouse and three sons, and their partners, and one grand daughter), hiking, canoeing and traveling. And when there is a little bit of time left, I try to capture the complex textural beauty of our world [urban and nature] through drawing, painting and printmaking.
© 2026 Bocage Inc. design by Xavier Massé - Photo credit Luke Liu, Izzy Rashid