Born in Milan in 1954, Giulio Cappellini is an internationally renowned architect, designer and businessman. Like many of his contemporaries who grew up in the Brianza furniture district, he came from a family of furniture makers. Initially attracted to architecture, he graduated from Milan Polytechnic in 1979. During his studies, Cappellini gained experience in Gio Ponti's studio shortly before the master's death. His ambitions turned to expanding the well-established family business into an internal leader and spreading Made-in-Italy values globally. To this end, he attended the School of Business Management at Bocconi University and officially joined Cappellini as art director in 1979. In 1981, he debuted with I Sistemi, a series of modular storage units characterised by simple and elegant lines, formal lightness and functionality. The line evolved into today's Easy, Aviolux and Flexy Container collections, designed by Studio Cappellini, the company's in-house design team.
Cappellini's stylistic trademark is evident in his designs' balanced mix of rationality, imagination, and eclecticism. His career moves between design and the management of the family business, which has relied on the contribution of emerging young creatives since the mid-80s. During his travels, his curiosity and constant search for originality led him to cross paths with such talents as Carlo Colombo, Jasper Morrison, Marc Newson, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, James Irvine, Christophe Pillet, Patrick Norguet, Nendo, Marcel Wanders, Shiro Kuramata, Dror, Barber & Osgerby and Tom Dixon. This impressive list earned him the title of talent scout, a role he performs with remarkable effectiveness. In 1992, he launched the Progetto Oggetto collection, a collective design programme coordinated by Jasper Morrison and James Irvine, which includes a series of home accessories and decorative objects. The programme, comprising the Ayra vase and lamp designed by Cappellini with Antonio Facco, continues production with contributions from various designers.
Cappellini also works as art director with outside companies like Istituto Marangoni, Alcantara and Olmar. His fruitful collaboration with Ceramica Flaminia began in the late 1990s and led to the creation of numerous bathroom fixture collections, like Acquagrande (1997), Link (1999) and Monowash Miniwash Fly (2005). Despite the vicissitudes of the family business, which saw the family firm, now Cap Design s.p.a., become part of the Poltrona Frau Group in 2004, Giulio Cappellini continued to develop the catalogue that bears his prestigious name. The iconic Luxor (2008) and Brest (2009) collections, storage furniture for the living room, were born in those years. His most recent creations include the Petit Quack chair line (2016-2020), the Dolmen marble table (2019) and the Gong coffee table collection (2020). The story of Giulio Cappellini's contribution to design would not be complete without mentioning his extraordinary installations for Fuorisalone. In 1992, he caused a stir with the recovery of the dilapidated Fabbrica del Vapore spaces; in 2000, he moved on to the now not-to-be-missed installations in the Superstudio spaces in via Tortona.
