When I was gathering information for my magazine about Lavapiés, I visited the bar/restaurant Los Rotos de Lavapiés a few times, as I was also including it in my magazine section.

What caught my attention was a cute mural outside the building. One cold afternoon, as I was staring at it, a middle-aged woman approached me and mentioned the artist behind it. She told me he was Brazilian, quite famous in Madrid, and that I should get in touch with him.

We ended up having a nice 30-minute conversation, during which I had to use all my brainpower to understand her rapid Madrileña Spanish. I don’t have Instagram, and though I tried googling his name, I couldn’t find much information. I figured I’d come back to it later. The problem was that I had misunderstood the woman—I thought the artist used to live in Madrid but had since moved away.

So, my magazine was put together and published. But a few weeks later, I randomly attended a meet-up for creatives, where participants shared presentations about their work. I nearly dropped my jaw when a Brazilian guy started presenting his project—and I suddenly realized his nickname sounded familiar.

When it was time for questions, I asked if the mural outside Los Rotos de Lavapiés was his. And guess what? It was! So now, I can finally introduce him to you in this article.

Meet Caíto Rudge and the Tetoux Project

Caíto Rudge is an urban artist, graphic designer, illustrator, and muralist. He’s also a community facilitator, trained by the Community of Madrid, and the creator of Tetoux: urban art with a positive impact. Tetoux was conceived as a tool to promote urban revitalization and citizen participation through the dialogue sparked by his murals.

The Tetoux project collaborates with various businesses and residents in Madrid’s Central District, transforming storefronts, facades, doorways, and other donated spaces. His interventions feature positive messages that inspire reflection, turning spaces into platforms for dialogue and connection between individuals and society. His goal? To raise awareness about collaboration and citizen participation through cheerful drawings that always carry a positive message.

I was lucky enough to be invited to a mural spot in Lavapiés, where Caíto was finishing the facade of a hair salon. While chatting about Madrid, social projects, and the gentrification of certain areas, I had the privilege of watching him work—seeing how his cute, lively drawings came to life in real-time.

Since I couldn’t provide much information about this fantastic artist in my original magazine issue, I decided to dedicate a separate interview to him as a follow-up.

Caíto invited me to his atelier, where he gave me a workshop on creating cool logos using colorful sprays and showed me different techniques to achieve amazing effects. The rain couldn’t stop us—although it was a bit challenging due to the weather, we still managed to finish our little project. It was incredibly refreshing for me to fully dive back into the art scene.

I’ll definitely be returning to his atelier, which is located in The Language Gym, so stay tuned for part two of this story in my next article! For now, follow Caíto on Instagram and check out his website. If you’d like to own a piece of his art, you can also purchase some of his work here.

What do you think about street art? Would you like to be part of this experience?