Daniel Duarte

Daniel Duarte

Porto based Product Designer , Daniel Duarte, found his passion for design when he realized that transforming different materials and processes into new products could have a positive impact on people’s lives.
Growing up in a tiny Portuguese town in Alentejo (Portugal), it was important towards shaping who he is. Especially, spending time with tinkering toys and everyday objects taught him to think, to question and to broaden his view of what was out there and what could be done next.
At the time, even though he didn’t have any understanding of design, he became fascinated with the feeling of freedom that creating new things brought into his life. Determined to make design his way of living, he graduated from Superior School of Applied Arts of Castelo Branco in Product and Interior Design . Throughout all these years, he found a space to try and use new and forgotten materials in brand-new contexts that helped him to figure out how to create fresh and strong concepts.
Moved by his willingness to take another step further in his professional career, he moved to Madrid to work for Kawamura Ganjavian. This experience gave him the chance to become responsible for all the stages of design projects; from the early sketches to the selling of the product, including the hand-selection of materials and mixing them with the latest trends. The first time he felt like a Furniture Designer was the thing he was meant to be didn’t happen until he moved to Northern Portugal to stay close to the industry and craftsmen. Ever since then, he didn’t stop for any moment trying to combine old and new design with fashion, visual arts and architecture to provide people the best possible furnishing experience. “His true fulfillment is making something that hasn’t been created with processes and materials that we don’t know yet”.
Over a decade of multidisciplinary track record, he delivered some of his best works yet — From hand scale products such as toothbrushes and longboards to furniture and lighting for outstanding projects and brands such as Starbörd & Co, Fabrica, Munna Design and Art On Chairs and now also Interior Design projects. The more he matures, the more he enjoys how bringing his own designs to life can take him on a journey, which inspired projects like Mister Cabinet for Wewood, Fringes Armchair for Munna Design and Bananas Floor Lamp for Ginger & Jagger.
On every project, he always starts by asking himself how he could try something new to him that can make people’s lives better through design as a reflection of uplifting moments. “He believes that a new project it is an opportunity to seek out new flanged ideas and to grow as a better designer and human”