Best of Utah 2012: Goods & Services 

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Best Snapshots of SLC
Pretty Little Pixel
Stephanie Swift takes Salt Lake City’s iconic landmarks and popular hangouts like the Capitol Theatre and the Blue Plate Diner and gives them a Technicolor, Warhol-esque treatment that makes them appear both familiar and exceptional. With digital prints of the signs of the Cotton Bottom Inn, the Downtown Judge Building, a Crown Burger billboard and other Utah gems, Swift has a pretty little pixel of home that’s perfect for any Salt Laker.
PrettyLittlePixel.com

Best Place to Bring Your Friend’s Brother’s Truck
Now & Again
Looking for a cool vintage lamp to complete the look of your sparse apartment? Get up off your milk-crate seating and head to Now & Again, a consignment shop packed with everything from wacky knick-knacks to complete furniture sets. Owner Michael Sanders is friendly and helpful and prices everything reasonably so that it moves quickly out the door. Come for a vase, leave with a retro couch—and if you didn’t show up with a truck, Now & Again offers free delivery.
501 E. 300 South, Salt Lake City, 801-364-0664, NowAndAgainSLC.com

Best Home loans for Good Credit
Box Home Loans
This Utah County loan company has come up with an out-of-the-box-idea that wins by not selling a one-size-fits-all home loan. The company prides itself on being the In-N-Out Burgers of the home-loans industry by focusing its business on just one product—a home loan that requires a 3.5 percent down payment and a 700 or higher credit score. By taking on only clients with good credit, the company has cut down on paperwork and can pass those savings on to the customer. Because the product is tailored specifically to a certain kind of customer, Box can also offer 24/7 live quotes on home loans. It’s easy to find out if you qualify, and if you do, you might want to start thinking inside the box to save on a home loan.
380 Technology Court, Suite 200, Lindon, 877-905-0005, BoxHomeLoans.com

Best Snow & Ski Threads
Simis Clothing
Sam Barsketis is a local businessman with global dreams to take his functional streetwear/snow apparel from his basement startup to the global market. Since he was a young man, Barsketis has doggedly pursued this dream—of course, that wasn’t too long ago, as the 17-year-old Park City High School student started his business in 2011. Since then, he’s been attacking social media to promote his slick line of affordable fitted hoodies and snapbacks. The line is impressive, stylish and functional—sportswear that you can sport on the slopes or the streets with equal panache.
435-655-1325, Simis-Clothing.com

Best Disaster-proof Design
Gorilla Design
Roi Maufas made Utah his new home after Hurricane Katrina displaced the Louisiana native. Inspired by the harrowing ordeal of being pushed from his home, Maufas has now created unique disaster-relief housing units that are affordable yet can hold their own against the elements. Made from recycled shipping containers, the housing units can sleep four comfortably and are stocked with a water-filtration system, a microwave, stovetop, refrigerator and freezer. The recycled units may be tough, but they’re nice on the environment, since they are portable and power themselves through solar-panel units.
GorillaDesign.org

Best Hoop Dreams
Salty Hoops Boutique
Do you have hoop dreams or plans of taking your passion from hobby to lifestyle? Then maybe it’s time you took your hula-hoop interest to the next level and got in touch with the hoopsters of Salty Hoops Boutique. The boutique offers all manner of hoops, from traditional to adult, heavy duty to sport. You can learn the art of hooping and come to realize that a hula hoop is one of the cheapest pieces of exercise equipment around, and easily one of the most fun. And don’t worry if you worry the only fun will be others mocking your uncoordinated hip movements—Salty Hoops even offers instructional classes in the art of hula hoopery.
Facebook.com/SaltyHoops

Best Curators of the Curious
Lost Media Archive
With technology evolving at a breakneck pace, there are plenty of forms of media going the way of beta tapes and dinosaurs. Fortunately for us, Blair Sterrett and Tyrone Davies of the Lost Media Archive have diligently been collecting arcane media from bizarre foreign films, such as the delightfully low-budget Turkish Star Wars and obscure martial-arts flick Lady Iron Monkey, and screening them as part of their Incredibly Strange Movie Nights that take place in Utah County and periodically at Brewvies in Salt Lake City. They also collect and sell the strangest in music and videos, from Mr. T self-help tapes to vintage vinyl like Mad River or the soundtrack to The Hobbit. Some more obscure pieces, like Michael Jackson narrating the story of E.T., or Music for Washing & Ironing, sadly are currently out of stock.
LostMediaArchive.tumblr.com

Best Maternity Clothes Community
HoneyBump Maternity
It’s difficult for expectant mothers to find chic clothing that’s affordable and that fits. That’s why the proprietor of HoneyBump started this business, a chic secondhand-clothing shop where mothers can bring in gently used maternity fashions to trade or to sell. Moms-to-be use HoneyBump as a giant maternity-clothing closet to find styles they like and try them on at the store. This Layton maternity boutique is also a great place for expectant mothers to meet and shop together. The store hosts regular classes on breastfeeding, natural childbirth and other subjects of motherly interest.
1155 N. Main, Layton, 801-444-0900, HoneyBumpMaternity.com

Best Recycled Art
Forked Up Art
For the eco-friendly art lover, nothing could make a kitchen more complete than a small, decorative shot-glass holder that is a small figure of a man, made out of forks, flipping the bird. If that kind of forked-up sense of humor resonates with you, then you ought to check out Forked Up Art. A project started by broke college students, Forked Up Art now sells figurines made out of recycled forks into decorative kitchen pieces, be they salt- and -pepper-shaker holders, a fork man riding spoons like downhill skis or the functional fork or spoon man designed to hold iPhones and iPads.
801-936-3675, ForkedUpArt.com