Istituto Marangoni Dubai has continued to inspire and grow talent with an evening hosted by renowned architect and designer, Giulio Cappellini

He is a mentor for the design courses of the newly launched Istituto Marangoni Dubai. Known for his valuable support to young designers, his visit to the school started with a mentoring session with the students, who presented their projects, while receiving a feedback from the inspiring architect. The session ended with Giulio pitching a project for 2023: “Cappellini Augmented Lounge”. The objective is to conceive a creative idea for a lounge environment through an immersive and multisensory experience, reinterpreting its meaning, functionalities and aesthetics with a view to the evolution of contemporary lifestyles and people’s needs. 

The talk titled, Design, Expanded, saw Giulio Cappellini and Gisella Borioli, Creative Director, Curator and founder of Superstudio, discuss how NFT’s, artificial intelligence and mixed reality are disrupting the design landscape and expanding the traditional ideas of interior, product and visual design. These developments are providing creative minds with new, exciting opportunities and ushering in a new frontier of multidisciplinary experimentation: the metaverse. Giulio encouraged guests to consider new discoveries in this digital transition and discussed related implications, new aesthetic languages and job opportunities for young designers stemming from this emerging scenario.

The audience was captivated as Giulio Cappellini explained the importance of looking to the future but not forgetting history. How it’s crucial to go back to the origin of design, with successful products being beautiful, useful, and thus becoming part of our lives and wanting to keep and offer to future generations.

Cappellini has always been open to experimentation and forecasting future scenarios. As a mentor at Istituto Marangoni, he explained the changing role of designers, how designers of the future need to work in a 360-degree way: through creative design, observing social phenomena, communicating a product’s story, the necessity for products to be able to fit into all scenarios, and the importance of bringing a global passion for designing into one space.

Giulio concluded the evening by reminding the students that being a designer is about projecting and working towards the future. How the Metaverse is a fantastic contemporary space and whilst technology can help us to be quick and efficient, maintaining quality and not compromising on creativity is fundamental.

The insightful evening finished on a high note, with Giulio Cappellini announcing and awarding the winner of his recent scholarship contest, offering the student a scholarship towards their chosen design course at Istituto Marangoni Dubai.