Shops / Shop of the Week
Shop of the week: Room 212
Room 212 is an art lover’s dream. Full to the brim with art in all forms, you are guaranteed to find something new, unique and lovingly-made with every visit to this hub of creativity that combines shop and gallery. Walls, floors and tables are stacked high with prints, paintings, books, home decor, jewellery, cards and other quirky gifts: the capabilities of Bristolian artists are seemingly endless.
Shop owner Sarah Thorp’s passion for the business and enthusiasm for local art is infectious. After working in the music business, Sarah lived on the Caribbean island of Tobago, where she raised her children. She then came to Bristol and completed a foundation degree in art and design at Bristol School of Art on Queen’s Road.
The shop is a haven of locally crafted art and gifts. Photograph by Erin Thomas
“I got involved in the North Bristol Art Trail, doing press and publicity, and I was helping run textile workshops at Heartspace Studios over at Westbury Park, where I also started the Knit and Stitch Club,” she says.
is needed now More than ever
“I was getting to know lots of artists in the area, and so I was overjoyed when I had to move house and I realised this was for sale, and now I live here with my family. I’d always wanted to have a shop.”
All the work in Room 212 comes from Bristol, just like these Stokes Croft China mugs. Photograph by Erin Thomas
Sarah maintains a freshness and vibrancy within the shop through window displays and key art pieces based on themes she chooses herself, all with the aim of catching the eyes of those walking past this stretch of Gloucester Road in Bishopston.
“It’s like a form of entertainment. I have themes for each month, such as boats and marine life during Bristol Harbour Festival. Moulin Rouge was my first theme, and I had all kinds of corsets hanging up,” Sarah recalls. “And I always do Day of the Dead. That started Laura Robertson off creating the Frida Kahlo cards. It’s a two-way relationship between the shop and the artists.”
Sarah’s close connections with the artists means that they are constant mutual sources of inspiration to each other. “When it started off five years ago, all the artists had to do a stint in the shop, which was a really good way of everyone getting to know all the work and all the artists meeting each other. And it meant all the customers who came in got to talk to an artist.”
Room 212 doubles as a gallery, with an extensive selection of art covering the walls. Photograph by Erin Thomas
Now Sarah is helped by a core group of artists, and is passionate about the community feel of the shop. It has become something of a local tourist attraction, as regular customers often bring in family members and visitors to show off the local talent showcased in Room 212.
“People feel happy to come in and pass a bit of time just by looking around. You can really delve around in here. At Christmas time it’s incredible – people find things that I haven’t seen for about two or three years!”
Room 212, 212 Gloucester Road, Bristol, BS7 8NU
0770 2598 090
www.room212.co.uk
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