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Text by Kelli Gratz
Images by John Hook
Blank Canvas is another locally owned boutique that has popped up in the arts district in Chinatown. Walking in, it would appear to be a shop filled with blank T-shirts. At a longer gaze the premise of the shop manifests. With more than 1,500 designs and dozens of different high-quality apparel styles to choose from, the cloth becomes your blank canvas.
“I wanted to bring variety to this community, offering customers more than just pre-printed shirts that you see on 50 people walking down the street,” says owner Daniel Ng, graphics designer and silkscreen manufacturer. Ng has lived in Chinatown all his life and has seen first hand how culture and the arts are growing within the area, especially with the arrival of other local retailers, like Fighting Eel and The Human Imagination. “So I felt Chinatown would be the perfect place to open.”
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YOU SEE A DESIGN YOU LIKE, GIVE US A NUMBER AND PRINT IT OUT ON A SHIRT. YOU WALK OUT WITH YOUR VERY OWN CUSTOM T-SHIRT TO GIVE AS A GIFT OR SPORT YOURSELF.
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Ng explains the process of creating the custom printed apparel: “You see a design you like, give us the number and we print it out on a shirt. You walk out with your very own custom T-shirt to give as a gift or sport yourself.” Prices for T-shirts range from $12 to $24, depending on the quality, and designs range anywhere from $1-$12.
The shop, fresh out of the production stages, hasn’t gone 100 percent custom yet. “By next year we will have the facilities to accommodate everyone’s design, whether it be an idea, photo or image,” says Ng. Also in the workings are consignment projects. “Our goal is to help people that want to start their own line but don’t necessarily have the revenue for it. With this shop we will be able to make smaller orders and sell their stuff right here in the store.” Blank Canvas is surely redesigning the blueprints of the tee.
Blank Canvas is located at 1145 Bethel Street. Open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Saturday from 12 p.m. – 6 p.m. For more information email [email protected] or call 808-780-4720.
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Originally published in:
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