Cappellini

Italy

Corporation

Produzent

The small workshop that Enrico Cappellini founded in 1946 in the northern Italian town of Carugo started out producing traditional, handcrafted furniture, before embracing modern designs in the 1960s. By the mid-1970s the workshop increasingly turned toward mass production. While its designs initially employed timber, the company soon began to process plastics and metal. Subsequently, the founder’s son – the architect Giulio Cappellini – began to play a decisive role. In his systematic expansion of the family company, he not only relied on domestic designers, but was one of Italy’s first furniture manufacturers to look to international designers from England, Germany, France, Japan, and the Netherlands. In 1987, he joined with Paola Navone and Rodolfo Dordoni to found the subsidiary Mondo, aiming to reissue classic furniture designs using traditional production techniques. These revivals included some of Shiro Kuramata’s work from the 1970s, including partly asymmetrical models such as Furniture in Irregular Forms. Also in production were Jasper Morrison’s early table design Flower Pot (1984) as well as the Thinking Man’s Chair (1986), originally manufactured as a unique copy. Morrison continued to create pieces for the company over the years. Later, the firm became renowned for Marc Newson’s amorphous creations like the Orgone Lounge (1991), the Wooden Chair (1992), and the Felt Chair (1993). Giulio Cappellini discovered and promoted a number of designers, many of whom created their first important pieces for the firm and are known internationally today. They include Werner Aisslinger, Konstantin Grcic, Hella Jongerius, Ross Lovegrove, and Jean-Marie Massaud. In 1996, the Cappellini company added a division for kitchen furnishings; additional sub-brands followed (such as Progetto Oggetto for home accessories and lamps). In 1998, showrooms were opened worldwide in a push for internationalization. The firm was also known for complex stagings of its collections, such as that featured in Milan’s Zona Tortona. Cappellini’s sensational but risky expansion strategy faltered temporarily and in 2004, after experiencing economic difficulties, Cappellini became part of the Poltrona Frau Group, which was taken over by the American company Haworth in 2014. Giulio Cappellini has since served as the company’s artistic director. Cappellini [website] accessed 25.10.2014. Neumann, Claudia, Design Directory Italy (London: Pavilion Books, 1999). Poltrona Frau Group [website] accessed 25.10.2014.