We love finding new and different things to share with you on our blog – and this little artisan gift shop at Caldas de Monchique really caught our eye and we thought it was worth some further investigation .. and it was also a great excuse to go shopping!

We love finding independent and artisan shops that have unique gifts and crafts – and the Artes@Spa shop was a real treat. It’s also in one of our favourite places – regular readers may remember our feature in 2014 entitled Keeping Cool on a Hot Day in the Monchique when we dropped off en route to the top of Foia to explore the pretty little village of Caldas de Monchique.

Since that post, the little gift shop that is Artes@Spa opened in September 2015, right opposite the famous Restaurant 1692 in the little square. It’s a great location, right next door to the old Casino which hosts arts and crafts exhibitions all through the summer:

It was through the ‘Casino’ exhibitions that the five artisans that make up the mainstay of the Artes@Spa products actually met; and when the small store-room beside the old Casino became vacant, they decided to work together to open their own shop.

Martin Normann Denkel is famous for his glass-work, with fabulous jewellery, jars, lights and decorations, all utilising the brilliant colours and luminosity of the glass selected:

His work is really beautiful, especially when it catches the light:

You can see more of his work on his Picasa webpage

Next up was the delightful felt-work of Birgit Felten, with her delicate and intricate scarves, jewellery and brooches – all made out of felt:

One of the things that we really liked about the shop was the artistic way everything had been laid out to really enhance the products.

The third artist is Susan Puttick who makes beautiful jewellery and also paints fine botanical art:

The fourth artist was Gill Goode, who sadly had already removed her artwork for the winter break when we visited the shop, she paints mostly delicate watercolours – sorry that we don’t have any pictures of her work to share with you.

The final artisan is our favourite – the very lovely Sandie Croft with her handmade soaps:

Sandie has a website with all of her products listed and lots of information about her products – you can find out more about her via this link to her website

The shop also has space set aside for other artisans to display and sell their products – before Christmas the shop had some lovely home-made candles on sale, and also hand-crafted leather goods and belts:

The shop is open every day from 10am – 6pm, with a different artist behind the counter each day .. they all know each other’s products so well that they are all comfortable selling and advising customers about the full range of items available, which is a nice touch.

~ UPDATE ~ we’ve just been informed that the shop is due to open again on the 18th February 2016 and will be open every day until early December!

We can recommend popping in if you are in the area!

For more information about the shop, including a location map and more images, you can find more information via these links:

Opening Hours
Open every day 10.00 – 18.00 from the 18th February 2016 until the first week of December.

Telephone Number(s)

(PT mobile) +351 91 151 3561 click to call mobile

or (PT mobile) +351 96 157 1984 add number click to call mobile

E-mail artatspa@gmx.com click to e-mail

Address 

R. de Caldas de Monchique,

8550-232 Monchique