Design duo Uinverso creates “colourful folk art” through simply-formed ceramic characters 

Uinverso is a collaboration between Nadiuska and Priscila Furtado, based in Brazil. The pair are multidisciplinary designers with experience in editorial and graphic design, and their main output is illustrations and ceramics. 

“At first we were just trying to get out of the graphic design studio/agency pace and find a different approach to our creative process as it didn’t have anything to do with us as individuals,” explain Nadiuska and Priscila. “The best part about working together is the freedom to have these weird ideas and not be judged by them. Even when they don’t quite make sense. We kind of complement each other.” 

An ongoing project is their series of ceramic heads made out of wood and ceramics. “It’s mostly physical studies of our drawings,” says the duo. “The influence comes from the local culture, from where we grew up. It’s colourful folk art.” The simplicity of these works is what’s appealing, with subtly carved facial features in profile that form stripped-back characters. Having been influenced by the pair’s 2D work, it’s great to see the interplay between their illustrations and ceramic pieces, with a similar colour palette of sandy yellow, oatmeal and burnt orange running throughout.  


By collaborating on a plethora of projects together it allows the pair not to get “bored easily” as one challenges the other. “Every time we find something new, a material or technique, it makes us see things differently, and that’s fun!” 

While Uinverso doesn’t specially have a style, Nadiuska and Priscila know what kind of work they enjoy creating. “We like cultural references with graphic influences, and simplicity with subtle messages in between,” says the pair. “We hope we can share another perspective and the richness of human kind.”