The Pianista exhibit below street level at 793 Tremont is worth a look. The local artist, Mike…read moreFrassinelli, has created a whole world of "relics" from a Native American tribe called the Pianistas. Mike is a painter and sculptor who created lots of inventive objects from old piano parts and then produced an historic book documenting the objects and their usage. The pages of the coffee table book are posted near the relics, creating the atmosphere of an historic exhibit. It's so fun to see the objects and paintings Frassinelli created and look for the clever puns in the write up. This is my third time seeing this exhibit and it never gets old. Bring the whole family!

Chris or "Madman with a Marker" did such a great job on the caricature that he did for a…read morecolleague's going away gift! She loved it and we put it in a frame with a matte border so everyone could sign. It looked AWESOME! Beyond that, Chris turned around the caricature so quickly including all of the special requests (i.e. Boston skyline in the pic, products that we work, etc). He also made it very easy for pick up and was very accommodating to my crazy schedule. Overall, a great experience and I would definitely recommend his services!

Chris did an amazing job for the University of Michigan when he captured some prominent faculty for…read morea colleague's going away party in caricature form. We initially began with three people, but quickly advanced to 13 caricatures that he nailed perfectly! And he completed it in such a fast turn around that made our stress level lower. Simply stated, our request was crazy with many details, but Chris completed the drawing in exemplary fashion with stellar service. If we ever need a caricature artist again, there is no doubt we would ask Chris.

Lights. Space. And then some. Boston Studio Photography is a great place for your photography and…read morecreative needs. Located near the center of city sits a cool place to check out if you are looking to bring alive your newest project. Just above a cool antique furniture store, they have studios areas and bays, as well as an outside in case you need a different look. They also have a make up area and a nice little lounging area. Very nifty. They also have a basement with an awesome dark and gritty feel, perfect for those edgier shoots and more. There is no limit to what you want to do. Boston Studio Photography can provide it. The staff was incredibly helpful, friendly and went the extra mile, especially when I had to reschedule several times. They were also really helpful setting up the lights. As far as the lights specifically, they were fairly easy to use and great for our particular shoot. They knew their stuff and were very accommodating. Renting this space for a couple of hours runs a few hundred dollars, but mind you, that includes lights and a decent hourly rate, depending on where you want to shoot. Its all incredibly reasonable, especially since the staff themselves are photographers as well. You feel at ease and the price of renting is definitely worth it. It was a great experience renting there and I foresee many projects of mine being shot there in the future. Boston Studio Photography is a great studio.

I'm a photographer at Boston Studio Photography, and the studio has been incredibly useful to my…read morebusiness. Paul and Younes are great managers, the space is wonderful -- providing natural light and the artificial light, access to a rooftop and urban building with fire escapes, standard studio and basement /exposed brick settings in which to shoot. The whole space is very accessible and very affordable. Younes and Paul have also offered group photoshoots from time to time, which have given both photographers and models a chance to shoot with a variety of people in the varied settings of the studio in different themes. It has been tremendously helpful to my growth as a photographer to be part of BSP, and I hope you take the opportunity to be part of it - either as a photographer, a client looking for a photoshoot or a model or makeup/hair/styling professional working on shoots here.

Piro printed my wedding invitations in 2007 and did a great job for a reasonable price…read more This is a little hole-in-the-wall shop with no parking of its own, so you'll need to find a street spot. Inside, it's nothing fancy, though they do have several huge volumes of sample invitations to browse. I picked a cream colored stock with some pearlescent designs on the border and a fairly standard calligraphy font. The invitations were printed on time, without errors, and looked exactly how I had envisioned them. You can't really ask for more! My parents have also used them on several occasions and been happy with the results. I know that the pricing for my invitations was competitive, and significantly lower than some other options. I think because they do not specialize in weddings, you don't pay a premium above the normal market cost for a print job. I know Piro has also printed the booklets for some events I've attended in the city of Somerville, and those have also been good quality.

awesome, little, family-owned printer…read more Piro has been in the printing business for 3 generations. they have a "no job is too small" attitude. they'll print custom sized invitations, flyers, envelopes, and programs in a timely manner for a reasonable price. before you go to staples or kinkos, check out Piro. let's keep these guys in business for many more generations to come.

Imprint Express prints stuff on stuff, basically. You can put your logo on any number of things for…read morepromotional purposes, awards, or just for fun. "Sure," you say, "tons of places do that." But none of them do so with such individual attention, competitive pricing, flexibility, patience, and above-and-beyond customer service. My school wanted to produce a small number of baseball caps with our logo to be given to our biggest donors. From a list we picked Imprint Express. Good choice. Throughout the long process from start to finish we had personal help from a single representative. If you have ever undertaken one of these projects you'll know how fantastic it is to have one person you're working with rather then a mini-call center where instructions are lost in a jumble of bureaucracy and a lack of accountability. They treated us with a small-scale project with incredible attention; like we were some huge contract. They even went so far as to liiterally send a person to our school to go over thread colors with us. I don't know of any other place that would do that. This is old school customer service like it should be.

I stumbled upon Imprint Express on Google when looking for a company to make shirts for the Boston…read moreMarathon...and I'm so happy I found them! They ususally don't take small orders (we only needed 5 shirts) but they were more than happy to work with us. They were so friendly, efficient and helpful! After our 1st meeting with them I had an email with a possible layout within 30mins - amazing! The process from start to finish was seamless. Talk about customer service - Katie even delivered the shirts to my office because of timing! The shirts look GREAT! And I know they are going to get us thru 26.2 miles BOSTON STRONG!!

Amir spent countless hours educating my wife and me about fine Persian rugs. He toured our house,…read morelistened to our vision, and asked great questions. He came back with a perfectly curated selection of Persian rug options and provided his overview and assessment of each rug selection and related the rug selection to our house, vision, and needs. His selections fit the discussed budget, timelines, and our needs flawlessly! My wife and I highly recommend Amir!

Dear Amir, Thank you…read moreso much for all the help you and your team gave us in designing the rugs for our new home. It was an exciting process and amazing that we were able to do it all by email. I finished the ordering process with tremendous faith in the designs. When the rugs themselves arrived, they were even more beautiful than I had expected. The quality and workmanship is tremendous and they were faithful to the designs and much more fantastic that I could have hoped. They completely make the house and I am delighted with them. I would highly recommend anyone work with you. You were helpful, very honest and easy to work with and designed me rugs I could never even have dreamed of. Please tell your clients to give you a chance, they will end of with a work of art that they will be so happy with. Yours, LG

Great experience getting passport photos done for our 6-month-old baby. We needed both US and…read moreCanadian photos, which a lot of places don't do, or they get confused about how to do it. After my husband got his Canadian passport photos done here, we went back because my husband said that he felt like they were the only place that seemed to know what they were doing. We were in and out super quick. They have great attention to detail--when packing the photos, they explained that the ink on the stamp can transfer to the back of the photos, so they pack them with a sheet in between and with the photos facing out.

Fast and reliable. They are always easy to work with. They are very dependable. Staff is very…read morefriendly.

Studio Verticale offers some beautiful European products, from sleek modern kitchens/baths to…read moreunique door/slider offerings. I worked with the owner Mila, Designer David and their team of quality trades people. They didn't try to push their tastes on me, but listened to what I liked and had great ideas to help guide me with choices. They put in space saving glass doors from Italy and installed a gas fireplace in my living room that I'm extremely satisfied with. They handled everything (permit/electrician/contractor). Overall a great experience and I'm contemplating using them again for other projects in my condo in Boston.

My experience with Mila and Studio Verticale were top notch! As a designer, Mila really understood…read morewhat I was "envisioning" for my space and she was able to help me incorporate it into my home. From the very beginning, her service was impeccable. She and her installer, Igor, took care to install my sliding doors in a professional manner and the follow-up, even after everything was finished, was wonderful. I highly recommend Mila and Studio Verticale!