MUD Accessories · Porto, Portugal
A bicycle built from a single board
MUD makes design objects by hand: wooden bicycles, cork-lined bags, lamps, stools. The first was a bicycle João Baptista taught himself to build from one board. He makes everything with Fátima and their son in the family workshop in Ovar.
Before the workshop there was an office. João Baptista worked in advertising and graphic design. Then he decided to build a bicycle out of wood, and with the little money he bought one board. He worked it out step by step, until the board had become a fully functional bicycle, ready to ride.
From one bicycle, many objects
The name stands for Manufacture Under Design, and the first bicycle set the pattern for everything that followed. The materials stayed the same: wood, Portuguese cork, leather. Bags and backpacks are lined with cork, which makes them water-resistant.
By now, there are lamps, wallets, a calendar and two bar stools called The Farmer and The Cyclist. The bicycles, MUD Wood I and MUD Wood III, are built to order, each one made individually by hand.
A workshop at home
Nothing is made outside of Portugal. It all happens in Ovar, where the workshop is part of the family's house, and every piece passes through the hands of one of the three. The family has a line for all of it: A Handmade Portuguese Tale. Fair enough.
Everything in the catalogue is founded in that first bicycle, continued in other shapes.
