Like many kids, Michael Hingston was an avid hockey card collector as a kid. Now, he’s created his own Edmonton-themed collector cards.
Edmontonia Trading Cards cards launched in May 2019 and come in packs of eight for $10. There’s a total of 60 cards to collect, each featuring a design by a local artist.
“I had a couple of different ideas that I thought would be fun,” says Hingston. “I was intrigued by the idea and the format of trading cards. They’re such a fun unit, and I think the idea rattled around just because I hadn’t thought of the right thing yet, but as soon as I had the idea of combining it with local history, which is also something I’m interested in, it all came together.”
Hingston wanted the cards to be intriguing, so that if you opened one pack, you’d want to continue collecting until you had a complete set. So, he designed mini collections like public art, bridges, urban wildlife and city landmarks within the 60 cards. Hingston assigned each group to a local artist, so that each sub-collection has the same aesthetic.
The artists that worked on the project are Andrew Benson, Michelle Campos, Kyle Charles, Emily Chu, Christy Dean, Valéry Goulet, Hamburger Hands, Justine Ma, Kelly Mellings, Nick Ross, Amanda Schutz and Jill Stanton.
“Edmonton has so many of these great illustrators, and they’re doing work for international clients in the U.S. and Europe, really high end stuff,” says Hingston. “But I don’t think people maybe necessarily realize that all of them live in the same city as them.”
Each card in the set is equally weighed, so there are no rare cards just as there aren’t any cards that appear more often in the pack. The back of each card has a description and the history of the subject, a part of the project that Hingston enjoyed.
“If you get a card that you don’t know that much about, it’s a neat way to learn about it,” says Hingston. “Even stuff we know by sight, we don’t necessarily know the backstory. I definitely had to go digging in the archives to find the answers to some of this stuff. It’s a really fun way to learn 60 little stories about the city.”
Edmontonia Trading Cards are available at a variety of local retailers like Kind Ice Cream, Glass Bookshop and Shop Chop, or online at edmontonia.ca
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