Is Guy Portelli Sculpture Studio Still in Business? (2026 Update)
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Look for Guy Portelli Sculpture Studio on AmazonFull story →Guy Portelli brought a genuinely different kind of pitch to the Den, asking three Dragons to back a collection of sculptures rather than a consumer brand or manufacturing business.
The artist is still working, and his pieces are still finding buyers.
Backing An Artist, Not A Product
Portelli wanted £70,000 for a quarter of the company built to produce and sell his Pop Icons Collection, eighteen sculptures fusing music and pop culture into physical pieces.
James Caan, Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis backed the pitch together, giving the sculptor both funding and the kind of combined retail credibility an emerging artist rarely gets access to.
What The Money Funded
The backing helped stage the collection at a well known London gallery space the following year, a platform most emerging sculptors never get near.
Individual pieces have stayed available to buyers since, and success here looks nothing like a scaling consumer brand: it means continuing to make and sell new work rather than opening more retail doors.
Present Day
Portelli continues working as a sculptor, having previously served as president of a leading UK artists' body and holding fellowship status with a national sculptors' society, with pieces still changing hands through galleries and auction platforms.
There is no single shop window to point to for a career artist, since the work moves through dealers and auction houses the way art normally reaches buyers, but by that measure this pitch holds up as a clear win.