Founded by Ricardo Costa, POÉMIA bridges Portuguese boatbuilding heritage, the precision of fine pastry, and structural innovation. The Lisbon-based studio creates striking wooden light sculptures defined by material tension, organic fluidity, and a profound sensory presence for the modern interior.
The Foundation of Form in Lisbon
In the vibrant landscape of Lisbon’s contemporary design scene, POÉMIA emerges as a compelling voice of structural artistry. Established in 2024 by artist Ricardo Costa, the studio operates at the precise intersection of engineering and fine art. Ricardo’s relationship with wood, however, began long before the brand existed. As the son and grandson of naval carpenters, he grew up close to the world of traditional boatbuilding, surrounded by timber, tools, and the patient gestures of the workshop. This early proximity gave him an intuitive understanding of the material: its resistance, its warmth, its limits, and its remarkable capacity for transformation.
Before founding the brand, Ricardo developed a deep discipline in the world of fine pastry, a field that cultivated a rare sense of precision, technical control, and delicacy. That experience now quietly informs his work with wood, granting POÉMIA’s pieces a seamless balance between careful engineering and poetic expression. The brand is dedicated entirely to investigating wood’s physical limits and inherent warmth, producing light sculptures that anchor the spaces they inhabit with enduring elegance.
The Geometry of Function and Form
In Ricardo’s hands, wood is approached as a living entity. It becomes fluid without losing its strength, expressive without becoming excessive. At the center of POÉMIA’s practice is the exploration of bent wood. Utilizing a proprietary technique, the studio pushes the material to remarkable levels of curvature and stress, holding it in a state of suspended energy. This is where the brand finds its true language: at the meeting point between control and surrender, tension and light.
“What most fascinated me was the potential to push wood to its limits without breaking, and this material’s remarkable ability to adapt and assume new forms.”
Ricardo Costa
The geometry of function and form is visible in every arc, sweeping curve, and seamless joint. Proportionality and volume are carefully calibrated, ensuring that the structural integrity of the wood is maintained while achieving organic, minimalist silhouettes. As Ricardo Costa reflects, “What most fascinated me was the potential to push wood to its limits without breaking, and this material’s remarkable ability to adapt and assume new forms.”
An Atmosphere of Warmth and Sensory Presence
These lighting pieces are sculptural presences, designed to hold illumination with absolute intention. Curves soften the material’s inherent rigidity, illustrating how design acts as a collaboration between human vision and organic behavior. Beyond their impressive structural achievements, the creations of POÉMIA offer a profound sensory presence. Objects such as the Maré Table Lamp demonstrate the brand’s mastery over interior ambiance, reminding us that material can hold memory, and that light, when shaped with care, becomes almost architectural.
When illuminated, an intimate relationship between the light source and the wooden surface is activated. The light washes softly over the exposed natural grain, highlighting the unique textures, tones, and variations within each individual piece of timber. Their organic fluidity evokes the movement of waves and the memory of the sea, creating a poetic connection between matter, light, and space. The smooth, tensioned curves invite the hand, grounding the visual experience in physical reality. Living with a POÉMIA piece is an ongoing, daily engagement with light, shadow, and materiality.
Global Resonance and a Living Territory for Craft
Each model is crafted in a limited series, ensuring a unique and exclusive encounter for the collector. The impact of POÉMIA’s vision has registered swiftly within the global design community, where design critics frequently celebrate the pieces as true sculptures of light.
Ricardo Costa belongs to a generation of Portuguese creators redefining craft as a living territory for research, form, and imagination. His growing presence in international design contexts reflects the recognition of his mastery and affirms the global relevance of a new, forward-facing Portuguese design language. The legacy currently being built by POÉMIA is one of structural truth and lasting illumination.
Ricardo Costa’s work reveals a rare sensitivity to material intelligence and formal integrity. POÉMIA earns its place on The Portuguese List by transforming the rigorous traditions of naval woodworking into a fluid, contemporary art form. We deeply admire this brand for creating objects that embody design with soul, inviting us to slow down and experience the profound poetry of organic movement.
