By Kevin Plummer

What Honest Ed’s lacks in architectural artistry compared to more high-brow institutions, it makes up for in self-promotional bombast. From its “quirky hand-painted signage” to the low-price Toronto souvenirs, badly painted Elvis busts, and abandoned theatre props, Honest Ed’s is a museum of kitsch. Now a local illustrator, Christopher Hutsul, has designed a stationery set paying tribute his neighbourhood’s “foremost local architectural landmark.”
“When Ed Mirvish died the building took on greater historical significance,” Hutsul explains, “so it was a building that I really wanted to study. Drawing is a nice way to get to know a building, and the paper seemed like a good reason to get into it.”
His lovely illustration—capturing the landmark retailer on a snowy day—was hand-printed onto Japanese paper at Kid Icarus, Mike Viglione and Bianca Bickmore’s Kensington Market print-shop and repository of art prints, screen-printed posters, and handmade stationery.
Hutsul’s sheet-and-envelope set is one of two new designs for the newly launched Palmerston Gardens Papery. The other, designed by Tory Osler, features a cardinal overlooking a snowy landscape. Both stationery sets are available in limited supplies at Kid Icarus (75 Nassau Street).
Photo courtesy of Christopher Hutsul.