Shops / Shop of the Week
Shop of the Week: Artigo, Gloucester Road
Before you even set foot into the shop, it’s evident there is plenty of art to admire at Artigo on Gloucester Road.
A beautiful array of prints, cards and artworks greets you first, with the visual feast only continuing once you’re inside the shop.
From jewellery stands to printed tea towels, woolly hats, mugs, paintings, and sculptures: Artigo is a treasure trove.
Artigo’s shop on Goloucester Road is filled with a plethora of choices for everyone
Artist and owner, Diego Godoy, explained how the idea for Artigo started with a weekend job selling his work at markets.
After about five years, he and a chocolatier friend set up a shop called Art and Chocolate before becoming separate businesses. Diego got in contact with old co-workers at the markets before other local artists got in touch with him to sell their work in his shop.
Diego said: “I just wanted to focus on art, but I’m quite lucky because my wife Jitka has a business background, so she helped with that side of things.”
Jitka runs her own therapy business, Pathways of Wellness, downstairs from Artigo.
Diego spoke of where his love of art comes from: “I use lots of different media: drawings and paintings from when I was very young and watercolours [were] things I really enjoyed.”
As a way of reducing waste and using recycled materials, Diego recalls picking up things he would find on the street, like broken appliances, radios or something, carrying them home and taking them apart.
Diego taught himself how to solder to make a mechanical crocodile that snaps its jaws when you wind the handle
Sometimes, customers and passers-by will bring materials like broken watches and metal parts for Diego to use.
He has a love for automata, but also for wildlife and animals: “I start with a shape, but it turns into something completely different as I’m piecing things together [into] something I didn’t imagine.
“It’s freeing.”
While Artigo has an online shop, Diego explained their fortune of being located on Gloucester Road.
He said: “We’re very grateful for people’s support in local communities.”
From robots with arms made from old bike chains to wind-up mechanical crocodiles, like ET, Diego is always searching for new materials, and Artigo certainly already found a thriving home on Gloucester Road.
With the holiday season around the corner, some of Diego’s most popular items are plantable cards: “Instead of throwing them away, they have flower seeds embedded in the paper so you can soak them in water, plant them and they grow into flowers.”
While the seeds have potential to flourish, it sounds like Artigo already is as Diego explains future plans: “We already do exhibitions in the back room which is a great way of helping artists to showcase their work.
“I do get a lot of enquiries from customers about workshops to learn a new skill like painting or some other crafts: more workshops would be a good thing.”
Artigo opened in 2021 and has found a thriving community for itself on Gloucester Road
All photos: Hannah Corcoran
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