Heart on her sleeve: Gabrielle Laïla Tittley, the Montreal artist behind Pony

Walking up rue St-Hubert, the Pony store is hard to miss on a strip as eclectic as the Plaza with its blue exterior and an array of colourful stuffed toys on display.. The inside is bright with primary colours, recalling a fever dream from a sleepover, or the TV set from a 90s kids' show, except there’s a giant yellow penis in the corner with a smiley face on it. Instead of teddy bears, the store sells stuffed versions of characters like Anxiyeti, a figure that, according to its description on the online store, spent a lot of time alone in the forest and just wants to find people to hug.