Commerce & Craft: A Bit of Magic In Sugarhouse

Commerce & Craft sits in a corner surrounded by little stores and a tea shop. The trees have discarded most of their leaves by early November, and the evidence lays bare on the sidewalk leading up to the shop. Everything about Commerce & Craft screams cozy, begging you to stay a while. Even Gail Piccoli, the owner of Commerce & Craft, has such a soothing presence that you forget where you are for a moment.

Commerce & Craft is the retail child of Piccoli and her love of arts and crafts. Opened a few years back, Piccoli originally was looking for a studio to work on her stained glass pieces. “I really haven’t done a whole lot since I’ve opened up the shop to be quite honest. But the intention with the shop was because I needed a new studio,” she says. “I looked around and I was like, ‘What if I got something that can be both studio and shop?’” Although the studio, Luna Bella, is in the back of the shop and still features some of Piccoli’s work, her focus has moved more toward the store.

“I looked around and I was like, ‘What if I got something that can be both studio and shop?’”

The combined love of craft and a cozy shopping experience is palpable in the shop. As you enter, you’re immediately met with soothing tunes such as “La Vie En Rose” and warm, sentimental candle scents that make you immediately nostalgic, as if you already miss it. The store carries pieces that make wonderful gifts or items you’d like to fill your home with; little knit kits, suncatchers, handmade jewelry, vases, clay mugs, bags, games and knick knacks that seem like remnants from childhood.

Although at first the shop solely carried Piccoli’s own work, she now has over 70 artists featured in the store. “… They come from all over the country,” says Piccoli. “Everyone thinks it’s a local shop, and I do have a lot of locals, but my intent was always to bring in outside artists because I just think it’s important.” Some of those featured artists include: Queen Bee Creations from Washington, Lost Sparrow Jewelry from Wisconsin, and La Pella Pottery from Tennessee.

“Everyone thinks it’s a local shop, and I do have a lot of locals, but my intent was always to bring in outside artists because I just think it’s important.”

Piccoli came across these artists the old fashioned way: business cards. “I’d go to art shows and go around collecting all of these business cards,” she says. “I had a binder filled … and a couple of locals I knew, and that’s how I started the shop. And then as I got going on Instagram, I’d start following artists and … other shops like mine around the country.”

If Piccoli liked an artist that she found on Instagram, she’d “poach” the artist to sell through her store—which sometimes involves artists from across the United States. Piccoli’s process of incorporating national artists promotes local access to different mediums, methods and cultural perspectives­, enhancing the variety and appeal of Commerce & Craft.

With construction on the shop planned for nect year, Piccoli hopes to keep the business going as long as she can. With the uncertainty of Sugarhouse’s prices and reconstruction of the city, a worry lingers in the air over how long the shop can remain sustainable, but Piccoli wishes to keep Commerce & Craft’s doors open for as long as she can.

“I’d go to art shows and go around collecting all of these business cards.”

The future of this rare gem of a shop? Perhaps a stained glass workshop. “I used to do classes and honestly, when they do some remodeling on the shop—supposedly next year—my foot traffic is gonna be way down,” Piccoli says. “I was thinking [of going] balls to the wall and [doing a] glass studio.” Sometime next year, Piccoli’s landlord plans to add some extra touches to the shop, leading her to think about committing more to the studio side of the shop, Luna Bella.

Walk into Commerce & Craft for a little comfort and look out for stained glass workshops soon. For more, visit their website at commerceandcraft.com.

Read more from Brooke Hannel:
Dreams & Nightmares: A Look Into Jokie Riak’s Clothing Design
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