Walk down Canal Street and you might miss it — an unassuming storefront with a vintage, sun-bleached sign. But step inside, and you’re not in a shop. You’re in a new precipice of creative possibility.
Mirrored strips glint like city lights at dusk. Fluorescent rods buzz with neon potential. The shelves hum with saturated color — orange like taxi cabs, cobalt like a SoHo night sky, pink like a pop art punch. Welcome to Canal Plastics Center — a secret shared between generations of NYC artists, designers, and dreamers. Not just a store. A studio supply shrine. A wonderland of workable materials.
In a recent Hyperallergic feature, we saw our space reflected through the eyes of the artists who’ve turned its raw materials into exhibitions, installations, and experiments for decades.
“It’s like a candy store,” says Liz Atzberger, known for her kaleidoscopic works built from bits and shards of acrylic.
Susan Weil, a force in postwar American art, swapped traditional glass for Canal’s colored plastics — crafting luminous “windows” with the safety and clarity only acrylic could offer.
Fred Fleisher, Tom Butter, Sophia Sobers — all speak to a rhythm familiar to Canal regulars: browse, build, repeat. A ritual that’s as much about feeling the texture of a material as it is about forming something new.
The excitement of touching color, of cutting clean light, of making something bold, weird, and wonderful has inspired students and artists for years. 
From Parsons or Pratt students on a lunch break, digging through our offcuts bin, to veteran sculptors laser-cutting custom pieces upstairs — the community is diverse, but the vibe is constant: bold, curious, full of grit and light.
Our customers are a mix of art students(hi Pratt, NYU, Colombia, FIT), Broadway set designers, installation artists, and anyone chasing that moment where material meets vision.
The Material Playground
You’ll find:
Acrylic tubes in every shade of the sunset and subway graffiti palette
Neon edge-lit panels that seem to vibrate in space
Mirrored strips, iridescent rolls, clear acrylic cubes, colored spheres
Custom cuts, builds, and laser-etched dreams. Whether you're looking for a sheet that sings under UV light or a block that refracts like crystal, it’s all here. Still cut by hand. Still sourced with countless variety. Still sparking imagination.
We’ve been here since 1963. Still independent. Still stacked wall-to-wall in myriad color and orderly chaos. Still lighting up NYC’s creative engine from the inside out.
🔗 Affiliate Link to Full Article:
Inside the NYC Plastics Shop Beloved by Artists – Hyperallergic