Friends Nicole Lattuca and Diana Lempel have fit an ambitious concept into a shoebox-sized space in Inman Square—formerly the longtime home of a shoe repair store. Now, it’s Practice Space, an art studio, exhibition space and retail shop stocking artisans’ handmade creations. “It’s been nice to have people touching the clothing and really seeing the difference in material that’s been hand-woven or hand-dyed,” Lattuca says. Spring arrivals will include breezy fashions produced with plant-based dyes by Austin’s Miranda Bennett Studio, botanical perfume from New York’s Marble & Milkweed, Toronto Ink Company inks made from materials foraged from the city streets and artist exclusives like custom bud vases from a Maine potter. But Practice Space is also a studio and gathering place that hosts happenings like January’s poster-making party for the Women’s March and February’s printmaking demo with Oakland artist Carissa Potter Carlson. Wednesdays bring open studio nights for art making—which have made a convert of Lempel, who’s pursuing a doctorate in architecture and urban planning but previously shied away from studio art. “I actually love watercolor now,” Lempel says. “Nicole had picked the colors for us to work with and given all these great prompts, like ‘Try to mix the color of the couch in the room.’ By the end of the evening, one of the women attending said, ‘This has been so great. I just needed to look at bright colors for a while.’ It was this great moment, because our idea is to create opportunities for practices that give you what you need.”

Practice Space, 1307 Cambridge St., Cambridge. practice-space.com