Best of Cleveland 2026: Our Editors’ Picks for Shopping, Style and Services

Best BYO Embroidery: HDX Embroidery House

Before Hanna Dunphy opened HDX Embroidery House in Lakewood, she was the customer she now serves. While outsourcing embroidery for her own projects, Dunphy kept running into the same roadblocks. She couldn’t bring her own items, shops required large minimum orders and turnaround times stretched for weeks. “I literally just needed one,” Dunphy says. “So I created my own situation.” Her shop lets customers bring in nearly any fabric and make it personal. They can choose from Dunphy’s hand-drawn icons, fonts and wall of thread colors or have their own handwriting, children’s drawings, photos and artwork transformed into embroidery. Some projects are playful. Others carry generations of meaning, wedding gowns repurposed into baptism gowns or a grandparent’s handwritten note stitched onto a groom’s tie. “Projects that are truly personal to our customers are what make this whole thing so special,” Dunphy says. And sometimes, special doesn’t require weeks of planning. HDX offers same-day embroidery for simple designs and text, creating lasting gifts and heirlooms in as little as 20 minutes. $75-$125, 14528 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, instagram.com/hdxembroideryhouse 

Best Hand-Forged Watches: The ExCB

Alexander Draven’s watches begin not with gears but with sheets of copper, brass and nickel silver. At The ExCB, he forges each case by hand using jeweler’s tools, “tiny blacksmithing,” as he puts it, then crafts and stitches the leather straps himself. Made in batches of just 20, his watches pair precise metalwork with aged patinas, ensuring no two are exactly alike. Draven, who fell for metalsmithing at the Myers School of Art, made his first watch when he couldn’t find a graduation gift cool enough for himself. Nearly 20 years later, that creative instinct still defines his work; function has always been secondary to artistry. “They aren’t buying my watches to simply know what time it is,” Draven says. “They are investing in artwork that happens to tell time.” $120-$775, theexcb.com 

Best Mobile Perfume Bar: The Her Edit

At The Her Edit, the first step to feeling good is smelling good. “I love women empowerment and self-care,” says founder Kaylin Ellis. The nail tech started the perfume bar out of her Twinsburg salon, and the concept quickly expanded to birthday parties, bridal showers and company retreats. The Her Edit allows everyone to find their signature scent, bottle it and own their one-of-a-kind aroma. The interactive mobile booth ($39+) includes a three-step process — picking a hue; selecting up to six fragrance oils such as fruity, fresh and clean, gourmand, and woodsy; and adding in top, heart and base notes — to create a perfume tailored to the customer. “One of my passions is to make people feel confident in the skin that God has put them in,” says Ellis. instagram.com/theheredit.experience 

Best Mood-Based Candles: Concept Candle Bar

Dana Knight captures something more than a smell with Concept Candle Bar. “A candle should be more than just a scent,” says Knight. “It should be an entire experience.” Her paraffin- and phthalate-free candles conjure a state of mind as they burn, uncovering new scents at the top, middle and base. The Akron-based maker often draws inspiration from the moment, whether it’s an outfit she adores, a trend on social media or a specific smell she encounters in everyday life — such as soil after a rainstorm. “That’s when the fun starts,” Knight says, noting that she attempts to recreate her emotional connection to those sensations. “That’s the kind of thing that excites people about my brand.” For instance, she uses natural fragrances such as moonflower and coconut milk to simulate the soothing lull of drifting off to sleep in her Dream candle, and the sharp zing of citrus and sage to produce an invigorating jolt of urgency in her candle Motive. “I do this with a lot of love,” Knight says. “It’s a very sacred process.” $25+, conceptcandlebar.com 

Best Music-Inspired Tote Bags: HiFi Diva 

For 20 years, HiFi Diva has been giving customers’ favorite albums an encore as one-of-a-kind totes. Concord Township artist Susan Steinicke hand-laces the laminated album art with coordinating papers and finishes her bags with webbing or guitar straps. Her experience as a longtime rock and jazz vocalist, plus her day job as a wallcovering designer for USVinyl, informs her eye for color and pattern in every piece. Inside her studio is a stockpile of about 500 albums, sourced from record stores, flea markets, estate sales and online. Major charting artists and legends such as The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac are the common headliners, but she also makes sure to keep space in her stock for bestselling stars such as Cyndi Lauper and The Go-Go’s. Once, Steinicke even whipped up custom bags for the Scottish funk group Average White Band’s merch table. Her inspiration spins across eras and genres. “The music and the design really inform the whole work process,” Steinicke says. $59-$84, hifidiva.com 

THIS VS. THAT: Best Pet Portraits

Espresso Bean Designs

The Top Dog: Jennifer Brhel is a self-taught artist who specializes in dog and animal portraits — making every day the dog days.

Commissions Opened: 2024

Portrait Costs: $150+

Favorite Toy: The cartoon-like style of Brhel’s grayscale drawings are achieved through the depth of one simple pencil and a good eye for shading.

Barking Orders: “I do photo portraits, but it’s not like you’re looking at a photograph,” Brhel says. “They’re more fun and have a playful edge to them.”

For the Underdogs: Through partnerships with charities like Sophia’s Grace Foundation Dachshund Rescue and Euclid Pet Pals, Brhel draws the resident pups and donate profits from those portrait sales back to the organizations.

Best of Breed: Brhel loves the art of labs, poodles, terriers and retrievers all the same; she’s drawn so many different dogs, it’s hard for her to pick a favorite muse.

Woman’s Best Friend: “I have four dogs,” Brhel says. “Elmer Fudd, Poindexter Pie, Penelope Pie and Tater Tot.”

espressobeandesigns.com 

Erin Lynn Paintings

The Top Dog: Erin Palek found her eye for portraits of pets, wedding bouquets and buildings during a two-week
residency in France.

Commissions Opened: 2024

Portrait Costs: $75-$300

Favorite Toy: Palek’s colorful, realist art pieces achieve their seamless look from acrylic and watercolor paints.

Barking Orders: “My style has kind of evolved into more expressive, warm and whimsical, with a touch of realism,” Palek says. “I want it to feel like art.”

For the Underdogs: Palek pays it forward simply with the gift of art; recently, she memorialized her landlord’s dogs in a mural on the side of her building to bring more color into her community. 

Best of Breed: Among her many clients, Palek holds a soft spot for drawing golden doodles.

Woman’s Best Friend: “I don’t have one yet,” Palek says, “but when I do (get a dog), it’ll wear a little beret.” 

erinlynnpaintings.com 

Best Sneaker Art: Sneaker Queens Customs

Mikaela Henderson can turn almost anything into sneaker art, even a potato wedge. The Northeast Ohio artist behind Sneaker Queens Customs once created a custom wedge heel for KFC with a literal spud encapsulated inside. It’s one example of the playful, detailed work that has taken Henderson from experimenting with sneaker customization seven years ago to creating for major brands nationwide. She has designed pieces for the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell and coach Kenny Atkinson, and traveled for live-painting events with clients including Nissan and Indiewalls. Today, Sneaker Queens has expanded beyond one-off customs into campaign artwork, experiential events and large-scale activations. “I don’t want it to feel like I just placed a logo on a shoe,” she says. “I want to interpret it and turn it into something that feels like what it is: an actual piece of art.” sneakerqueenscustoms.com

Best Tooth Gems: Enchanted Enhancementz 

Zhaley Clow has kept Cleveland cheesing since moving to the city from Kansas in 2022. The esthetician behind Enchanted Enhancementz brought with her a gift that the local market was lacking. “I love all things glitter and girly,” she says. “I wanted tooth gems, but no one did them.” And if she was going to do it, she was going to do it right. So Clow took her talents out west to Los Angeles to get properly trained by a dental expert. She came back with a hygienist’s habits — and doesn’t leave them behind, whether she’s working a local pop-up or at her own South Euclid studio. She’s even been recruited by Nike to bling out guests attending WNBA- and NBA-related events. Nothing about the work is one-size-fits-all, especially when it comes to her popular freestyle set ($100+). Clow builds each design from her own range of gem colors, sizes and shapes, and lets the smile do the talking. “I love hearing, ‘Oh my gosh! I can smile again or, ‘I feel comfortable smiling,’” she says. instagram.com/enchanted_enhanc3mentz 

Best Tufted Wall Hangings: Hi Cutie Fibers

If you’re looking for neutral and rustic decor, Leah Gosciejew’s brightly colored wall hangings probably aren’t for you. The hand-tufted creations from Hi Cutie Fibers are meant to stand out, featuring eye-catching designs that range from classic to trendy — geometric patterns, cartoon flowers, Russian nesting dolls and geese in party hats. “I love adding color and joy into the world,” says Gosciejew, who started tufting in 2021 after seeing process videos on social media. “Bringing people a smile and splash of color in what can be a very dark world gives me endless motivation to continue creating.” Each piece takes at least two hours to create — and sometimes more than eight, depending on the size and complexity of the design. Gosciejew’s work is sold in more than 100 shops around the world, and she’s a familiar vendor at local craft markets. But your best bet is to log on and catch one of the coveted flash sales that take place via her Instagram Stories. $65+, instagram.com/hicutiefibers  

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