ARTiculations Art Supply — Attraction in Toronto

The good: this store has an excellent selection of supplies; they carry some brands that are difficult to find elsewhere.

The not-so-good: Customer service. Every time I've shopped at this location, there's been an issue. At the end of last year, they were running a holiday sale. Because the store is closed Sundays (and the sale was running until the Sunday inclusive), I placed an order online for in-store pickup. After receiving my notification saying my order was ready, I came to the store. The one employee on duty could not locate my order. She looked and looked, and tried repeatedly to call two colleagues to ask where the order might have been stored. Now, my order was not complicated - six tubes of paint. There is a point when the employee should have pivoted and just filled the order by pulling the items off the shelf (once located, the order that had already been put together could have been restocked). Instead, she persisted in trying to locate the existing order, which took a total of 20 minutes and multiple phone calls to colleagues.

More recently, I was in the store, purchasing four tubes of paint. The employee had trouble scanning one tube, ultimately ended up scanning it twice and overcharging me.

As much as I prefer to support local businesses, I'll probably just go to Michael's in the future. They have sales all the time, and these issues...

I got really into painting this year, and for my birthday, my husband went all out—did a deep dive into watercolour research and, with the help of one of Articulation's super knowledgeable employees completely spoiled me with an incredible upgrade to my supplies. Since then, every time I’m in Toronto, I make it a point to visit Articulations, and every single experience has been amazing. I’ve been lucky enough that that same person (Erin) that helped him has been there the last three times I’ve visited, and she’s always taken the time to answer my endless list of questions with so much patience and insight. Her recommendations are thoughtful and always spot-on for what I need. It honestly feels like chatting with a friend—she’s even hooked me up with samples so I can keep growing as an artist and explore what works best for me.

Articulations is such a gem of a store, and the level of care and knowledge here is unmatched. I always leave feeling inspired, and I know I’ll be a customer...

How to shop for your art supplies in this pandemic when you hate online shopping? Try ARTiculations. I email them a couple photos of the oil brushes that I have, told them what I like / dislike, and what I wanted to use the brushes for. They replied to my email promptly with very good suggestions. ARTiculations carries some unique brands that you can't find in the major art supply stores. I bought some Rosemary oil brushes and Michael Harding oil paints (both are UK brands). They are beautiful. I personally think Rosemary is better quality than Raphael (and they are about the same price). Thank you Marie for handpicking the brushes for me and thank you for ARTiculating what I need. Have...