At the StonebyPORTUGAL 2025 Gala, organized by Assimagra at the Palácio da Bolsa in Porto, Studio Olivah was awarded the Product Design Prize for the Stools collection, part of the Lugares line. This recognition celebrates the innovation, conscious design and commitment to sustainability of Portuguese Stone - values that are at the heart of our creative philosophy.
The jury, composed of Hélder Nascimento, Jorge Mealha and Fernando Brízio, evaluated the submissions with a multidisciplinary and rigorous approach, highlighting the importance of this award for the natural stone sector and for national design. More than a distinction, this is a tribute to the material itself and to the way design can reveal the beauty of what is born from the earth.
Created by Studio Olivah, the Stools collection is born from the gesture of transforming surplus into permanence. The five pieces - Adraga, Azenha, Nazaré, Carmo and Roça - were developed from small blocks left over from Portuguese quarries, converting fragments into utilitarian sculptures. The collection is part of the Lugares line, a broader project that explores different formats, uses and applications of Portuguese natural stone, revealing its aesthetic and emotional versatility.
Each stool is carefully carved, revealing Portugal's geological richness and chromatic diversity. Moca limestone, Lioz Vermelho and Estremoz marble are molded from solid rock from the Mármores Rosal, Ferrar and Galrão quarries, given new life in a contemporary style.
The pieces evoke places and memories: Adraga, Azenha and Nazaré bring the echo of the Portuguese coast; Carmo pays homage to an iconic Lisbon street; and Roça is inspired by the small villages of Brazil. In the Lugares collection, each form is a poetic record, a stone territory where design meets emotion. The collection transforms waste into narrative, exploring the materiality of stone and its ability to tell stories through shape and texture.
In 2025, in addition to receiving the Product Design Award, Studio Olivah once again signed the StonebyPORTUGAL Trophy, continuing the design partnership that began in 2023 with Assimagra. That first edition saw the birth of the trophy that marked the beginning of this collaboration, an object designed as a symbol of Portugal's geological diversity. Two years later, the 2025 trophy takes up this idea, reinterpreting it through new stones and compositions, in a gesture that reinforces the link between design and territory.
Inspired by geological core samples, the 2025 trophy was produced with remains of stones from the Broot Dialogues project, also created in partnership with Assimagra. The piece brings together basalt from the Azores, marble from the Alentejo, schist from the North, limestone from the Center and granite from Serra da Estrela, representing the geological layers and identities of Portugal. An object that translates the memory of the land and the essence of Portuguese territory, a stone manifesto about who we are and what we have built.
Receiving the Product Design Award at the StonebyPORTUGAL Gala, for Studio Olivah, is a source of pride and gratitude. More than an award, it is the recognition of a way of thinking about design and of a practice that values what is local, respects the time of the material, and transforms surplus into meaning.
Stone, a noble and essential resource, is here rediscovered as both language and narrative. Each piece is a dialogue between technique and material, revealing the beauty, memory and depth of the territory from which it originates.
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