An independent brand studio in Lisbon. We make identities, packaging and places that people keep.
140+ brands since 2014
(01) Studio
We work with founders who make things by hand, and we stay with one idea long enough for people to remember it.
12
years in Lisbon
140+
brands launched
4
projects at a time
31
design awards
(02) Selected work
Work that stayed on the shelf
(03) Services
Four things, done properly
01
Brand identity
Names, marks, type and colour, built to work on a tin lid and a phone screen.
02
Packaging
Structures, labels and print, made with the people who produce them.
03
Spaces and wayfinding
Shop fronts, interiors and signage that guide people without a single arrow too many.
04
Digital products
Websites and apps that carry the brand into everyday use.
(04) Process
How a project runs
01
Listen
Two weeks of interviews, shop visits and old receipts. We write down what is true before we draw.
02
Shape
One idea, tested on the tin, the sign and the phone before anything is polished.
03
Make
Type, colour and form, built with printers, potters and joiners we have known for years.
04
Stay
We guard the system for the first year, so the tenth thing you make looks like the first.
Trusted by makers in Portugal and beyond
MARÉ
lume
Folio
ondo
SAL&PEDRA
Barro
“Kobalt gave us a colour people now recognise from the end of the street. Walk-ins rose by 60% in the first month.”
Helena Marques, founder of Maré Tea Co.
“Visitors stopped asking for directions. The signs do the talking now, in two languages.”
Rui Almeida
Museu Lume
“They spent a week in our studio before drawing anything. You can feel it in every box we ship.”
Priya Nair
Barro Ceramics
“Twelve issues in, the cover still does the selling. Subscriptions are up by a third.”
Henrique Sá
Folio Quarterly
“We came for an app icon and left with a brand our engineers defend in meetings.”
SO
Sofia Okafor
Ondo
(05) People
A small studio, on purpose
Marta Vaz
Founder, creative director
Tomás Reis
Design director
Amara Costa
Brand designer
Kenji Arai
Digital designer
(06) Questions
Before you write
A partner reads every message and replies within two days.
How much does a project cost?
Identity projects start at €18k and most land between €25k and €60k. You get a fixed quote after the first call, before anything is signed.
How long does it take?
Eight to fourteen weeks for an identity, longer for spaces. We take on four projects at a time, so each one gets the whole studio.
Do you work outside Portugal?
About half our clients are abroad. We travel for the first workshop and the launch, and work remotely in between.
What do you need from us?
A founder who can give us two hours a week, and honest answers about who buys from you.
Do you only make identities?
Identity is where we start. Packaging, signage, interiors and apps follow from it, often with the same team.
What happens after launch?
We stay on a small retainer for the first year to guard the system, brief printers and design what comes next.
(07) Journal
Notes from the studio
Process
Why we design in one colour
Every project we take on starts with the same constraint: one colour, chosen early and used everywhere.
Studio
Notes from the sketch table
Why every project here still starts on paper, and what we keep from the first week of drawing.
Process
How a pinboard runs our projects
Project tools come and go. The cork board on the studio wall has outlasted all of them.
Have something worth making?
We take on four projects a season. Two places are open for spring 2027.