This work aims at studying the history of Portuguese industrial production and processing of polyurethane and its application in furniture design. It intends to answer questions like: when and how did it start? Who were its founders? What was the academic education/professional training of people involved? What kind of technology was being used? And how was that technology acquired? Since this study has no parallelism at the national level, it is crucial to investigate in libraries and factory archives in order to collect information about the origin of Portuguese polyurethane production and to understand if importation, industrial espionage or partnerships were being done. Taking Portuguese objects from MUDE – Museu do Design e da Moda. Colecção Francisco Capelo (Lisbon) as case-studies, this research looks at these creations through the history of polyurethane technology. It also intends to complement previous works about Portuguese design with novel knowledge about the industry and use of this recent material (developed in 1937, by Otto Bayer in Germany). In the context of Portuguese industry and with the active participation of Estado Novo (dictatorship regime), it was not before the 1950s that its mass production began. With a strong desire for innovation, Portuguese factories started to include design as an essential part of their work and even without being part of academic training, design gained a high status. With regard to plastics production, the first objects (made with Bakelite) appeared in exhibitions of Portuguese industry in the 1930s; after the sixties, the first industrial units working with polyurethane started appearing. Among these factories, Flexipol (1964, São João da Madeira), Eurospuma (1965, Espinho), Têxtil Manuel Gonçalves (1960-70s, Guimarães), Endutex - Soc Revestimentos Têxteis (1970s, Caldas de Vizela) and Fábrica de Calçado Campeão Português, SA (1970s, Guimarães) were identified during this investigation as producers of PU foams, coatings and shoe soles. In which concerns furniture factories it was also found that Metalúrgica da Longra and Fábrica Osório de Castro, some of the most important furniture factories in Portugal, may have assumed an important role in the incorporation of polyurethane in the design of national furniture objects. In this way and unlike the common notion of an industrially backward Portugal, this research has been showing Portugal has a place on the map of polyurethane industrial processing.