About

Bernardo Urbina

For over a decade, Costa Rican furniture designer Bernardo Urbina has shaped tropical hardwood into sculptural, one-of-a-kind furniture — collected, not mass-produced.

Trained at Pratt Institute and Politecnico di Milano and featured in The New York Times, he brings a designer's eye and a maker's hands to every commission — each one shaped, carved, and finished by hand in his Tilarán woodshop.

He works for a small number of clients a year who value originality, craftsmanship, and material honesty over the catalog.

Bernardo Urbina in his Tilarán woodshop, with leaning Guanacaste slabs and a Bernardo Urbina Design wall sign behind him

Trained at

Pratt Institute

Trained at

Politecnico di Milano

Featured in

The New York Times

Reuters

Designed as art. Built to last.

We don't template or repeat designs. Every piece begins as a conversation between a design intention and the natural movement of the wood — the grain, the live edge, the anomalies most makers hide.

Materials are sustainably sourced and kiln-dried in our own shop. We never use veneer or MDF — only solid tropical hardwood, joined to last and finished by hand.

Waterfall-edge hardwood counter stools by Bernardo Urbina in a villa kitchen in Papagayo, Guanacaste

From shop to home

Made in Guanacaste, at home on the coast

The shop itself is built from reused shipping containers on a hillside in Tilarán. Everything happens here — material selection, hand sketching, sculpting, refinement, and finish work — under one roof, by the people who designed the piece.

Because each piece is made to order, the wood, the form, and the room it will live in all shape the final result. Most commissions take six to twelve weeks, and you see progress photos along the way.

Material honesty

Solid wood, and nothing pretending to be it

GuanacasteParota
CenizaroMonkey Pod
TeakTeca
LaurelLaurel
CedarCedro

Sustainably sourced · Kiln-dried in-house · Never veneer, never MDF

“Their craftsmanship is truly outstanding — every piece they created for us showcases exceptional quality and meticulous attention to detail.”

Kaitlyn H. — Nosara

Let's create your next statement piece.

Custom commissions available year-round.

Start a commission