Selected Work
Ideas we've shaped, together and apart.
Studio projects OloSoma built as one, and the independent work Diogo and Manu each carry from their own practices.
Studio Projects
Design competitions Diogo and Manu entered as OloSoma.
Independent Practice
Work each founder carries outside OloSoma -- what they bring into the studio.
Diogo Leitão
Visit personal site →Sowa Apartments
Bydgoszcz, Poland
A former bank headquarters reborn as a 13-suite apart-hotel. Diogo led the full transformation -- heritage permitting, structural work, facade insulation, and interiors for three apartment types plus a ground-floor bistro -- turning a landmark building into a place people actually want to stay.
Herbarium Hotel & SPA
Chomiąża Szlachecka, Poland
A 19th-century lakeside manor turned into a 54-room boutique hotel and spa spanning three interconnected buildings. Diogo ran the entire design and construction process himself at 25, coordinating international supply chains -- the same hands-on resourcefulness OloSoma brings to every build.
Suchary Hotel Complex
Nakło nad Notecią, Poland
An eight-hectare 1906 palace estate rebuilt into a lakeside hospitality destination -- palace hotel, ballroom, and wedding hall arranged around the water. Black steel and dark marble sit quietly next to original brick and stone, honoring the building's age instead of erasing it.
Stary Port 17 -- Regatta House
Bydgoszcz, Poland
An 1854 tenement on Bydgoszcz's waterfront, its historic facade preserved while a new stepped structure rises behind it toward the river. Walnut timber, brushed metal, and a nautical palette turn the building's rowing heritage into a lived-in identity for 11 apartments.
Manu Echavarría Romero
Visit personal site →Paqua
Colombia
A hydroponics company Manu co-founded, designing and manufacturing modular growing systems for families and communities. Over 600 units sold and three years running a real manufacturing operation from the ground up -- proof this kind of thinking survives contact with a P&L.
Mill
Colombia
A transparent-screen retail display engineered to slot onto refrigerators Colombian stores already owned, cutting the cost of digital signage 70% against imported alternatives. A reminder that good design often means making the expensive thing accessible, not building a showpiece.
BPetit
Solo Ventures
A pet-health app designed and built solo, end to end -- wireframes, architecture, AI assistant, brand. The clearest evidence of what "bridging vision and execution" looks like when it's one person and one product, shipped.
Artisan Development & Cultural Preservation at Scale
Artesanías de Colombia, Antioquia
As Head of Design for the Antioquia region, Manu supported over 400 traditional artisans with product development, pricing, and market access. The least conventionally "design" project here, and maybe the most telling one -- design as a tool for other people's livelihoods.