What to know
- Phoebe Todd-Parish is the owner of Flycatcher Press, an analog printing shop that opened in Toronto’s Upper Beaches neighbourhood in 2025.
- She stumbled upon Flycatcher Press’ current studio space, which had already been vacant for two years, during a walk with her dog.
- Every print made and sold at Flycatcher is inked by hand one colour at a time using vintage mid-1900s printing presses.
- At the end of November, Flycatcher Press and Secret Planet Print shop will be hosting a joint handmade holiday market.
Phoebe Todd-Parrish doesn’t have a car. Instead, she traded her car fund for a mid-1900s Vandercook Printing Press that cost $16,000.
Eight years after founding Flycatcher Press in 2017, Todd-Parrish relocated to the Upper Beaches neighbourhood on the corner of Woodbine Avenue and Gerrard Street in late 2025, opening an expanded storefront that offers custom letterprinting services and sells stationery.
She picked the name Flycatcher Press because “Phoebe is my name, Flycatcher is a type of bird, and Phoebe is a flycatcher.”
Todd-Parish says printmaking became her preferred art form because “you can’t really start with a blank page.” For the final product to look good, she says it takes planning and figuring out what medium would look best with the end design.
“That’s a unique part of it and also helps people understand the value of paper by making something by hand.”
After moving to the East End three years ago, Todd-Parrish found her current studio and storefront while walking her dog around the neighbourhood. At the time, it had already been vacant for two years.
“I saw this place and it kind of seemed perfect,” she explains. “It was a big open space and it was cheaper to buy this building and pay our mortgage than it would have been to rent a different studio space for the same amount of square footage.”
Old-school printing presses
Unlike some of the other print shops in Toronto, Todd-Parrish prides in Flycatcher Press’ old-school methods. Every print in the shop is inked by hand one colour at a time. She says products made by other artists sold at Flycatcher Press are also printed via analogue methods, whether that’s risograph, letterpress, or screen prints.
When she says old-school, she means it. The oldest press in the shop is a Gord Treadle press, which dates back to the early 1900s.
“It’s the fastest one to use if you’re printing something small, like business cards, because it has a foot treadle,” she explains.
Although the rest of her printing press collection isn’t quite as old as the Gord Treadle Press, they all still date back to the mid-20th century. Among Todd-Parish’s collection at Flycatcher Press — which she has been slowly accumulating for the last eight to 10 years — are tabletop Platen Presses, a sign press, and three Vandercook Proofing Presses.
Contrary to popular belief, Todd-Parish says the bigger and heavier printers are actually cheaper since the hobbyist printers don’t have floor space for a 3000 pound printing press. Her collection has been acquired mostly through diligent combing of Facebook groups, Kijiji, and Briar Press’s classified ads.
Todd-Parish’s love for vintage printing presses runs so deep she traded owning a car for a $16,000 Vandercook.
“The most expensive one I have is the biggest Vandercook, which I paid $16,000 for. That was my car fund. I don’t have a car, I have a Vandercook,” she admitted sheepishly.
The value of handprinting art
In an age where digital printing has become the norm and Artificial Intelligence (AI) art is more rampant than ever, some might question if there’s even a point in hand-printing anymore.
Todd-Parish disagrees. She believes the value of printmaking is in the lack of endless possibilities, which forces artists to slow down and carefully consider every aspect of a piece, which “you don’t have to think about when you’re designing for digital.”
“The easiest way to convince someone of the value of [handprinting] is for them to try it so that they can be humbled and inspired by the difficulty of it,” she says.
“The value is that the person who’s made it has put a lot of effort into thinking how [the pint] will actually be made, how the ink will behave on the paper and whether the colours will work.”
What’s next for Flycatcher Press?
Flycatcher Press has only been in its home in the Upper Beaches neighbourhood for less than a year, but Todd-Parish already has a Holiday on Beach Hill market planned with Toronto’s other well known East End print shop, Secret Planet, which is owned by Jackie Lee.
“Jackie Lee and I were in our undergrad at the same time. We had mutual friends, which was 1,000,000 years ago,” Todd-Parish reminisced.
“We’ve become better friends being East End people and me trying to operate this shop. I’ve asked Jackie for lots of help and advice.”
The Holiday on Beach Hill handmade market will be held on Nov. 28 at the Naval Club of Toronto. Vendors from around the city are encouraged to apply.
Interested in some hands-on experience with the vintage printing presses at Flycatcher Press? Todd-Parish hosts a variety of workshops, including learning linocutting, letterpressing, and more.
