Contemporary interior “Landscapes”
Again during Design Week 2022, the Cappellini company proved its “systemic” approach to envisioning new scenarios with a double contemporary living exhibition by international creatives and by supporting young talented designers, asking them to develop its futuristic concept centred on the parallel dimensions of living.
A furniture company founded in the first post[1]war period, Cappellini has built a new identity since the 1980s by meeting young international designers – some of whom are now well[1]known personalities. He also inaugurated unprecedented ways (more and more explored since then) of presenting products: museums and abandoned ex-factories became a favourite setting for experimental design. As confirmed by the success of projects such as Alcova, the same ‘alienation’ effect obtained by setting contemporary pieces in unusual places works perfectly for a dual purpose: valuing the object’s intrinsic characteristics while rediscovering inaccessible or abandoned sites.
Freedom is a watchword that has guided Cappellini’s production from the very beginning; freedom to experiment, using diverse materials and technologies, while always counting on Giulio Cappellini’s solid expertise, flexibility and entrepreneurial instinct, a typical attribute of historic Made in Italy businesspeople.
Architect and designer Giulio Cappellini has supervised his company’s growth since the late CLOUD bookshelf, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec; BAC table, Jasper Morrison. seventies, orienting it towards a wide-ranging international opening, both by collaborating with emerging designers at the time and by taking care of the company’s image. He defined a corporate image of timeless success and influenced the evolution of design marketing.
Famous designers such as Marc Newson, Jasper Morrison, Nendo, Tom Dixon, Marcel Wanders and the Bouroullec brothers are some of the prominent names ‘discovered’ by Giulio Cappellini.
He must also be credited for his remarkable ability to maintain a high level of corporate recognition despite the diversity of languages offered by their catalogue. One of the distinctive features of the company offer is that collaborators have diverse geographical and cultural origins, which translates into a wide variety of concepts and poetics. This was confirmed this year by the presence of famous designers such as Patricia Urquiola, who proposed Lud’ina, a new table and desk version in recycled plastic of the Lud’o Lounge armchair. Noteworthy also Juli Re-Plastic, a sustainable, outdoor version of the successful chair of the same name by Werner Aisslinger (which he created with material from domestic waste, especially packaging), or the take on Elan, the sofa series designed by Jasper Morrison in 1999. Cappellini has represented avant-garde design since the 1990s. Still, perhaps now more than then, his visionary ability has proved crucial in today’s constantly and rapidly evolving design landscape. Blending design and art and borrowing systems from fashion and entertainment are now standard and highly successful practices to anticipate trends, as exemplified by Cappellini’s “hybrid design” experience.
At the latest Design Week, “Looking to the future” exhibited the new collection at a highly symbolic place for the city, the IBM Studios Pavilion in Piazza Gae Aulenti, a symbol of Milan’s digital evolution. Among the pieces on display, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group – a Danish design studio with important international offices – featured Big Sofà, a generously sized sofa with a clear architectural inspiration, suitable for the contract market. Belgian newcomer Nik Aelbrecht has designed the essential collection of Openup tables (which cannot fail to evoke the brand’s time-honoured collaboration with AG Fronzoni). Elena Salmistraro, who became famous in recent years, experimented with glass by designing Miya, a coffee table blending the designer’s inventive creativity with Murano glassmakers’ artistry. A second exhibition, Cappellini Slowdown Refuge, investigated the theme of living with the growing pervasiveness of technology, displaying historical icons by Shiro Kuramata, Piero Lissoni, Tom Dixon and Mendini, combined with new design proposals.
And to confirm Cappellini’s reputation as a famous talent scout, the Expanded Beauty section was dedicated to the works of students from the Marangoni Design Campus, who imagined the house of the future.
