The advent of cheap digital photography has encouraged many people to experiment and play around with images on their computers. Through the photographic services he offers in his Blue Amigo shop on Oxford's Little Clarendon Street, Firaj Vakil is encouraging us to go one step further and use these pictures as the basis for original artworks and home furnishings.

"We're now living in an age where digital photography is everywhere," he said.

"But I don't think today's generation is going to remember their Bebos and MySpaces, that ephemeral, intangible world. If you like a photo, do something with it!"

This could mean turning it into a fine art print on canvas; making a cushion, chair, screen, or roller blind; or creating a special gift, such as a photo book or diary.

People have come in with lots of good ideas during the five months since the shop opened Two brothers found a box of faded newspaper cuttings and old photographs of their father, once a well-known local footballer, in an attic, and used them to make a collage printed on canvas as a birthday present for him.

Another customer put together a selection of pictures of a train journey across Ukraine as a gift for their partner.

A woman brought in a piece of wallpaper that she especially liked and Blue Amigo staff helped her to create a matching lampshade, while children's line drawings formed the inspiration for decorating someone's roller blinds.

Cushions illustrated with people, pets, and flowers are popular, as are sturdy canvas bags with waterproof photographs sewn on to one or both sides.

Unless the work is particularly involved and time-consuming, Blue Amigo does not make a charge for helping customers to enhance their images digitally, for example, by cleaning up an old photo, removing red eye', or cropping a picture more effectively.

"We have a policy of not charging whenever we reasonably can. The point is for people to commit to the end product," explained Mr Vakil.

The business also has a portrait studio at the back of the shop and offers free photo shoots for people who would like good quality, informal images of their family and friends.

Mr Vakil is adept at getting people to relax and enjoy the experience, even those who generally dislike having their photo taken.

"I sometimes have to be a bit of a buffoon!" he said.

The results are posted on a website so that customers can choose images and products to buy.

Blue Amigo also takes a mobile studio to events. Recently, for example, the firm has taken pictures of groups of friends at Wadham College Ball and an Oxford Brookes University Law Society party.

A wind machine - the kind used in magazine fashion shoots - adds to the fun. In one evening as many as 3,000 images can be used.

The team also makes posters for other businesses, and the shop sells the work of professional artists and photographers, at a 30 per cent mark up on the prices charged to customers who bring in their own images.

Mr Vakil, 43, has run several businesses over the past 20 years, in the related areas of IT services, video production, marketing, and graphic design.

The idea for Blue Amigo grew out of Pixelnation, a National Lottery-funded initiative in which he was involved in 2005-06.

The project took computers into school halls and encouraged young people to bring in images and learn to manipulate them in imaginative ways to create works of art.

Pixelnation has since developed into a talent agency called the Unsigned Network.

"Through this we are trying to show performers how to promote themselves using new media" he said.

The name Blue Amigo came from customers mishearing and mispronouncing the name of the parent company, which was called Blue and Miko, after Mr Vakil's dogs.

He has designed the business in such a way that it could become a franchise, with a recognisable brand, standard shop design and easy-to-follow management systems, and is currently in discussions with a major retailer about the possibility of setting up concessions in some of its shops.

Future developments will include a technique to transfer images to fabric or aluminium; stocking more photography products such as memory cards and digital photo frames.

And Mr Vakil hopes to develop a group of local artists, photographers and, eventually, home dressers who will promote and sell their work through Blue Amigo.

"I'm trying to apply some of the principles of the Internet and social networking to a retail concept," he said.

"We're trying to be like an independent record label, but for artists and photographers. We enjoy what we do and that makes a huge difference."