toronto coffee cup art

Someone in Toronto is making art out of local coffee cups

You’ve heard of latte art, but this is ridiculous.

Rather than getting creative with what’s inside his takeout coffee cups, one Toronto artist is using them as his canvas.

Garrett Hardy goes to beloved local coffee shops like Noble, Milky’s and Piedmont and sketches out quick, colourful illustrations on the cups. Then, he actually rates the cup. Both stamp and lid get a rating out of five.

He also does similar illustrations of plants and architecture, and if you do enough of a deep dive on the Instagram feed there are quirky comics, cartoons and doodles.

"I started sketching on coffee cups in January, and since then I’ve been going to a new cafe every week with my girlfriend. She takes the photos and edits them," Hardy wrote in an email.

"I got the idea from Tomas Pajdlhauser. He’s an artist and co-owner of Birling, a skateboard shop in Ottawa that also serves coffee. He would take his own shop’s cups to sketch around the city."

"I thought it would be neat to take that concept and explore cafes all over Toronto. I love the diversity in the cafe interiors, the communities, and of course, the stamps on the cups."

The next time you think about chucking away that old takeaway coffee cup, consider re-purposing it into a blank canvas for beautiful artwork.

Lead photo by

@garrett.sketch


Latest Videos



Latest Videos


Join the conversation Load comments

Latest in Arts

Residents pushing back against renovation of nearly 100-year-old Toronto landmark

Cirque du Soleil opens in Toronto this week with ECHO

Win a cozy Exhibit A prize pack from the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto

10 live theatre shows to watch in and around Toronto this May

AGO is offering free admission to everyone this week

A Toronto airport is about to be transformed into something new and creative

Toronto's largest free student art and design exhibition opens this week

The AGO in Toronto is finally reopening after weeks-long closure