Houston husband-and-wife duo Leila and Carlos Peraza have always cared about art.

“I feel like he and I both have always been very community-driven and into art,” Leila Peraza said. “He’s a musician and writer, and I’ve always been a creative person myself.”

Initially working in the hospice care industry, taking care of patients and delivering medical equipment, the two decided to look toward selling art on the side as a way to satiate their craving for artistic expression. As a result, Space Montrose was born.

Staying local

What started off as a small shop in 2010 featuring handmade artworks and products made by three artists has turned into a 1,200-square-foot store that has worked with thousands of artists and small businesses over the past 15 years, with the store currently selling art from over 300 artists, Leila Peraza said.

“The more art we added to the store, the more the store made sense to Houston,” Leila Peraza said.All of the store’s products are U.S.-based, with 50% of the products made by local Texas artists, Leila Peraza said. Items include prints detailing maps of different Texas cities through circles and stickers to jewelry, ceramics, stationery sets and even homemade candles and incense, sometimes made by the Perazas themselves.

“Most artists that we work with, Carlos and I have personally connected with,” Leila Peraza said. “The special thing about Space is you can come in here and we will talk to you about the artists that we work with. We usually have a little story to tell you about them.”

Leila Peraza said they opened Space in Montrose, as they believe the area is “the heart of Houston.”

“I just feel so at home in Montrose, and I just love all the diversity of the people that come into the store,” Leila Peraza said. “You see people hanging out in here, talking, drinking their coffee while they’re walking around. Sometimes people meet in the store. I’m like, ‘Do you know each other?’ And they’re like, ‘No, we just met while we were looking around, talking about art.’ I think that’s a very Montrose thing.”

Going forward

Leila Peraza said Space Montrose isn’t looking to expand at the moment, although the store has experimented with opening a pop-up store in the Memorial Mall, which she said helped bring more eyes to not only the store but also the art and products.“It was great because we were able to see that people in other areas of Houston were interested in the store,” Leila Peraza said. “But it definitely also showed me how much Montrose is community-driven. People want to support art here. They appreciate it, they want to hear the stories, they want the warm welcome. That’s what I love about the area.”

For now, the Perazas are focusing on their four children and growing the Space Montrose brand with the art and products they work on themselves.

Leila Peraza said artists and small businesses interested in submitting their work to the store can reach out to the store on its website.

• 1706 Westheimer Road, Houston
• www.spacemontrose.com