OPRA is an independent design studio founded in 2017. We work on a small number of projects each year, with founders involved at every stage.
OPRA was founded in 2017 by Inês Costa and Mateus Hara, after a decade of working in larger agencies. Their idea was simple: a studio small enough to keep founders on every brief, large enough to deliver work of real ambition.
Today the team is fourteen — designers, writers, technologists — based in Lisbon with collaborators in Tokyo and New York. We accept eight to ten projects each year.
Every engagement begins with a long conversation and ends with a system. We don't pitch, we don't make decks for the sake of decks, and we don't believe in surprise reveals. Our process is patient, transparent, and built around weekly working sessions.
Most projects run between twelve and twenty weeks. We charge fixed fees and share working files openly. We say no to twice as many briefs as we accept — and that is the point.
We take time to understand a problem before drawing a single line. Most of the work is thinking. The rest is editing.
Typography, hierarchy, material — the small choices accumulate into trust. We treat them as first-order business decisions.
We'd rather solve one problem honestly than ten approximately. Every project is the most important one we're doing this year.
OPRA treats a brand the way a luthier treats wood — they know exactly when to stop.Mei Tanaka · Editor, Format Quarterly