designwire daily | In Milan, New Flagship Store for Cappellini

In Milan, New Flagship Store for Cappellini

by Ian Volner | Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Cappellini—the Italian manufacturer known for assembling eclectic collections and seeking far-out design talent—has opened the doors to its new showroom in Milan, a dreamy space in vivid yellow that’s bound to attract the notice of well-heeled shoppers from the adjacent retail corridor along Via Monte Napoleone.

The revamped interior, housed at the retailer’s longtime address at Via Santa Cecilia 4, is the work of the company’s eponymous art director, Giulio Cappellini. His decision to go with the bright, banana-hued look was certainly a daring one, but it fits with Cappellini’s ongoing color-coded approach to its storefronts: red (New York), blue (Los Angeles), and purple (Paris).

For the Milan space’s debut, Cappellini is featuring an exhibition of products designed for the brand by late Japanese architect Shiro Kuramata, along with drawings and prototypes dating from the period of their collaboration in the 1980′s. The choice, explains Signore Cappellini, reflects a parallel between the company then and now: “At the time of the launch of Shiro Kuramata’s products it was a huge cultural leap for Cappellini, the transition between being a furniture manufacturer to becoming a reference point in the evolution of contemporary design worldwide. It is a story that continues today.”