Island Style Gallery

Island Style Gallery is at 512 Duval Street, and what fills it is handmade objects rather than wall art. Hand-painted furniture, pottery, art glass, jewelry, tiles, mirrors, clocks, sculpture and some clothing, most of it one of a kind and much of it functional. Owner Dyan Stuglin's stated buying rule is to use primarily Florida artists, and the effect is a room where everything reads as made by somebody rather than ordered from a catalogue.

Stuglin came to it sideways, having taught elementary school and worked as a boutique buyer with a minor in art, before opening her first Island Style gallery on Sanibel Island. The Key West store on Duval came later, and the two have run alongside each other since. The gallery also takes custom orders, which for furniture in particular is worth knowing.

It is a browsing shop in the best sense. Prices run from a card or a tile up to limited-edition furniture, so it works whether you are looking for one thing to carry home or a piece to ship. There is a Sanibel sister gallery on Periwinkle Way, and the company has been in business long enough that it has been recognized among the country's leading retailers of American craft.