From Mínkhar to the Tourinho Chair: Daniel Jorge’s Self-Taught Path

Although Daniel studied product design at Senac and started architecture at UFMG, he prefers to call himself self-taught and for good reason. Since childhood, he created his own worlds: at 10, he invented the Mínkhar alphabet, inspired by fractal geometry, to explore identity and creative pathways. Drawing was always with him, he even sold his creations to neighbors, claiming he had been a designer and visual artist for as long as he could remember.

The Tourinho Chair: Art, Design, and Comfort

Launched in 2021, the Tourinho chair was born from a project to decorate the home of Brazilian advertiser Pedro Tourinho. Daniel created not only the chair but other furniture pieces and even a 15-meter sculpture for the property in Salvador. The chair’s design draws from Manueline architecture seen in colonial-era Bahia churches and the constructive balance found in Lina Bo Bardi’s work, one of his female design inspirations.

After a year of testing and prototyping, the Tourinho chair achieved perfect ergonomics, with leather seat and backrest, proving that beauty and comfort can go hand in hand. 

Daniel Jorge: A Designer Connecting Spaces and People

Today, Daniel splits his time between Minas Gerais, Rio, and Salvador, transforming everyday observations into pieces that connect people, tell stories, and blur the line between art and design. For him, courage is essential: “In design, architecture, and art, you need a thousand sips of courage to do what you believe in without outside interference.”

The Tourinho chair is the culmination of a journey marked by experimentation, memory, and the vision of a designer who knows that presence is everything.