About
Trincado
Trincado is a woodworking and design studio born in 2026 out of a long-standing desire to live a creative life, doing manual work and seeing our labor materialize into a new creation by day’s end. We craft furniture that is both useful and sculptural: tables, cabinets, chairs, one-of-a-kind objects that blend clean function with organic form.
At Trincado, experimentation runs through everything. We explore new materials, techniques, and collaborations with like-minded artists, always letting curiosity guide the work. We produce limited-edition and made-to-order pieces—bespoke commissions blurring the line between craft and sculpture for galleries, private collectors, architects, interior designers, and hospitality brands.
The studio
The studio is a place where hands meet wood in patient, deliberate work, located in the calm countryside just outside the artistic hub of Caldas da Rainha, Portugal. This premium location places us in the beating heart of Portugal’s creative scene, with Lisbon right at our doorstep.
It is also a space for unbound curiosity, where bold and even whimsical notions find their way into wood—ideas that veer toward unexpected, daring explorations. Here, alongside furniture, handmade wooden surfboards take form, shaped by the same hands that revere the tree’s flow and curve, and allow it to glide over the waves.
The process
Each piece begins with respect for the material: wood from trees that have lived long lives—mostly storm-felled or pruned local rich hardwoods like holm oak, cork oak, walnut, and olive, salvaged invasives like acacia and eucalyptus, or rare exotic slabs that arrive as unexpected gifts. We mill much of it ourselves, on-site where the tree once stood, then wait through years of slow air-drying and seasoning. We seek out unique, sometimes odd-shaped slabs, honoring each tree’s character and personality, giving it a second life. The wood sets the pace—we follow its timing, its grain, its stories.
Our process is simple at its core. An idea emerges, a rough line is drawn on paper, then hands go to work. We read the wood’s figure, its knots and curves, its hidden tensions, and let the material suggest what it wants to become. No two pieces are alike because no two trees are. The goal is quiet beauty: objects that feel right in a room, that carry the warmth and history of the wood, and that last.
The mind and hands behind Trincado
Miguel Canhão Dias is the one who listens to the wood and shapes it. Trained as a veterinarian, he worked with wildlife across Angola, Namibia, and South Africa before deciding to settle back in Portugal. While living in the north of the country, he apprenticed in the slow and ancient craft of wooden boatbuilding, drawn in by the quiet precision of curves and seams that hold against the sea. That reverence for patient, hand-shaped form carried over. Following his creative calling, he opened Trincado, embedded in Caldas da Rainha’s vibrant artistic community.
What began as lessons from older craftsmen grew into Miguel’s own language through relentless experimentation and ideation. Today he builds pieces that feel alive—each one a continuation of the tree’s story, gently given new purpose.
Trincado is about that slow unfolding—working with intent, without hurry, so the finished piece feels inevitable, as though the wood always knew its form.