Who we are
Boah Nova began in 2021, in Leça da Palmeira, when friends who had already worked together in the lighting industry found themselves asking the same question: could lighting be made differently? We were increasingly uncomfortable with an industry built around constant novelty, short-lived trends and objects designed to be replaced. We wanted to create something with a different rhythm: pieces designed with care, produced locally and made to remain meaningful over time.
The project took shape under the initiative of our founder, Fernando Pinto Santos, drawing on experiences in two places that left a lasting impression on him - and on how we work today. At Stanford University's Center for Design Research and d.school, in California, he saw how collaboration between people from very different disciplines could become the starting point for innovation. At Aalto University's Design Factory, in Finland, he found that same collaborative spirit paired with a profound respect for materials, craftsmanship and simplicity. Those experiences continue to shape the way we work.
At the centre of Boah Nova is a small team, surrounded by a close community of designers, technicians and production partners who contribute their expertise when it is needed. We prefer this structure because it keeps design and production close to each other, and because it allows us to give every piece the attention it deserves.
Fernando Santos, Founder of Boah Nova
Place
Leça da Palmeira is part of our identity. The Atlantic light here changes constantly throughout the day, creating subtle shifts in atmosphere that naturally influence the way we think about illumination and space. Close to us stand two places that have long inspired our work: the Boa Nova Tea House and the Piscinas de Leça, designed by Álvaro Siza Vieira. They remind us that beauty often comes from a careful dialogue between form, material and landscape. Living and working here shapes what we create, quietly and continuously.
Leça da Palmeira's waterfront, with Siza Vieira's Boa Nova Tea House.
Commitment
We believe a business should create value in more ways than one. Respect, integrity and care guide our decisions, from the materials we choose to the scale at which we work. Sustainability, for us, is not a separate ambition. It is simply the natural outcome of making thoughtful choices over time.
Our pieces are made from wood and finished with water-based stains and varnishes. We choose materials that are durable, responsible and aligned with the values that define our work. For every lampshade sold, we plant a tree, in partnership with One Tree Planted, a non-profit organization dedicated to global reforestation. Through this collaboration, each purchase directly funds the planting of a tree. It is a simple gesture, carried out consistently - one more way of giving something back to the world that inspires everything we do.
A Boah Nova piece carries the marks of the people who created it: the designer who imagined it, the hands that shaped it, the decisions made along the way. We have grown slowly, and comfortably so. The pace allows us to remain close to our work and faithful to the principles that brought us here. What we make is designed to last. So is the way we have chosen to build Boah Nova.
We work together with the One Tree Planted organization