“Casa Crocodilo” Shop The words “casa crocodilo” mean house of the crocodile. This store is one of Porto’s traditional stores and is a landmark in the city. It’s a store where you can order some handcrafted products related to the natural leather sector. At the same time, customers can buy already made products of superior ...
Traditional shop restoration
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“Casa Crocodilo” Shop
The words “casa crocodilo” mean house of the crocodile. This store is one of Porto’s traditional stores and is a landmark in the city. It’s a store where you can order some handcrafted products related to the natural leather sector. At the same time, customers can buy already made products of superior quality. It is also possible to buy products and equipment to support the work done at home.
It’s a family business that has been serving customers for three quarters of a century. At the same time, the existence of a life-size, embalmed crocodile inside the store has always been an attraction for customers.
The rehabilitation and restoration of the shop
Intervening in these historic spaces in Porto was a difficult challenge. On the one hand, every time we replaced something or transformed an element, we had to be careful to maintain the experience of the traditional store. This was an added challenge given the degradation to which the store had been subjected.
So we tried to restore as many elements as possible in order to preserve all the historical legacy and assets of the business. Our main objective was to reinforce the experience and the traditional atmosphere of the store.
The interior design project
The interior project consisted of designing and organizing various aspects:
- Refurbishing the window frames
- Restoring the traditional sign
- Decorating the window with the crocodile’s natural environment
- Restoration of the crocodile by a qualified taxidermist
- Restoration of all the wood and homogenization of the traditional color
- Replacement of the lighting
- Placing the craftsmen’s workstations visible from the counter
In short, we want the customer to travel back in time and experience something that is only possible in local shops.
