Shagho is a multidisciplinary design leader, artist, and cultural practitioner who works at the frontiers of innovation and community. As founder of Folk Lounge, she facilitates cultural programming to study the grammar of ornament known for Embroidery Socials across LA parks to explore how traditional craft practices foster community, continue cultural preservation in contemporary urban settings, connect us with land and encourage being. Born in Vladivostok, of Armenian and Russian heritage, she holds a BS in Fashion Design and an MFA in Human-Computer Interaction from California College of the Arts. She believes in the power of collective making to weave new connections between past wisdom and future possibility.

We are excited to welcome artist Shagho (she/her) as our 2026 artist in residence at Pasadena Heritage. Her research at local museums led her to sharing the idea of open archives with the public and creative communities. Visiting the Pasadena History museum, she discovered Ernest Batchelder design textbooks and the museum's public call to collect citizen databases of his work. Inspired to highlight both, she was awarded a City of Pasadena individual artist grant to host a workshop series to bring the language of ornamentation, nature and Pasadena culture into community practice. She will be working with us in the coming weeks on creative programming, new ideas and craft heritage.