We recently connected with Heather Phillips and have shared our conversation below.

Heather, appreciate you joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

When I opened ARTiculations, it was out of a desire to create a creative community hub and also to offer a conscious retail experience in an industry that boasts a lot of choices but not always a lot of quality. The knowledge needed to sift through the noise can make all the difference when you’re starting out.

The world of art materials and programs can be overwhelming to both a novice and a seasoned professional. Most art supply stores that you walk into offer such a range of options it’s hard to know what is right for you and what sets them all apart. Our approach to customer service is firmly planted with a focus on artist care. We want to strip away the excess and help give you the knowledge and tools to make good decisions about your materials that will elevate your experience of materials and help you focus on creating.

From our website:

OUR STORE(Y)

As practicing artists, we understand the care and energy that goes into your work, and the difference it makes to have a knowledgeable community to support and celebrate that. The ARTiculations team aspires to be both helpful and accessible. Our approach to service means asking questions, listening, and learning about you, your work and your current materials. We can personally vouch for our unique selection of high-quality art materials and tools; hand-selected for value, and influenced by our discussions with you.

We want to help you find the best fit, not the most expensive product.We are proud of the lasting relationships we build with artists – in Toronto and beyond – and are honoured to be trusted as their choice for materials.

WE BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF CREATIVITY AND THE JOY OF MAKING ART.
So, please, tell us all about your project – we want to hear about it.

Heather, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Heather’s MEDIA BIO

Heather Phillips (she/her) is an art material expert and entrepreneur. At 25, Heather co-founded ARTiculations Art Supply out of the desire to build a creative hub that focused on developing meaningful connections between the artist’s creative process and their materials. Simply put, she is here to live a creative life and provide fellow artists with programs and materials that support them to do what they do best – create.

A trailblazer in the Canadian art material industry, Heather was the first Canadian supplier of leading niche art material and tool brands such as Natural Pigments, Rosemary Brushes, New Wave Art Products, Yoshiharu Printmaking Tools, FOME Italy artist tools, and more. She has coordinated over 500 art classes and workshops, curated over 70 exhibitions and coordinated close to 50 community events, including the ARTiculations Annual Fill’er Up Sketchbook Challenge, which encourages creative habits through daily sketchbook practice.

A graduate of York University, Heather majored in Studio Art, specializing in sculpture and painting. She has spoken about her unconventional path from artist to art store owner at York University, Sheridan College, and Humber College, and has been featured in media outlets including The Monocle Guide to Better Living, The Toronto Star, Blog TO, and Now Magazine.

Heather lives and works in the Junction neighbourhood in Toronto with her husband and daughter. She sits on the board of directors for the Junction BIA and enjoys being hands-on in community programming and events.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

ARTiculations just celebrated its 12th birthday. We opened in 2011.

There have been many moments throughout this journey that have tested me, but I have learned you just have to roll with it and it’s always a good idea to take a breath and a step back to assess before reacting.
That, and check in with yourself and your team regularly. Ask – how much of my/our energy does this action get to have today? And, don’t be afraid of failure. If you are moving forward, you are not failing – you are learning.

Here are some of the major milestones from the pandemic and just before;

> Started the business with a co-founder and best friend, who amicably moved on from the business in 2019. The timing was such that we started the process in September 2018 and by the time we finished everything up in April 2019, I was 7 months pregnant with my daughter and first child. So, I transitioned from co-owner to sole owner and became a mother months apart.

> When the pandemic hit, we had just found out (literally that day) we needed to migrate our POS system and learned that the website we had been building for the better part of a year would not be compatible and we had to start from scratch. As a brick-and-mortar, we took this news in stride while operating only with curbside pick-up, virtual shopping appointments (which we started right away in March 2020) and phone orders. We were able to transition the POS in 3 months and had a new e-com site up in 11 months. All while in lockdown.

> Just as we got our footing on transitioning our POS, we learned that our building was being sold and our lease was set to expire. We needed to find a new home after 9 years in the same location with deep roots in our community. We did manage to find a new home, just 300 feet down the road, and were up and running within a week of our move date.

This year, we managed to relaunch our workshop and programming arm of the business after being on hiatus since the pandemic hit. It feels good to return to community care through programs and we feel like the time away from it has helped us retool our approach to become even better.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Customer service and care. And follow through. Truly. It goes a long way to pick up the phone and call someone, or take the time to stop and talk (and more importantly, listen!). We have built our reputation on showing up and caring for clients. And honestly, I don’t think we’re doing anything mindblowing. Just treating others with care.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ARTiculations.ca
• Instagram: @articulations_to
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ARTiculationsTO
• Youtube: @ARTiculations_TO
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.ca/biz/articulations-art-supply-toronto