My name is Giovanni Marcello Cappellini (1994). I was born and raised in Milan and now live in Lugano.

Design entered my life before I even noticed it. I grew up surrounded by objects, materials, sketches and projects — and at a certain point it became clear that I wanted to be the one turning them into reality.

After studying at Istituto Marangoni in Milan, I spent the last ten years alongside some of the most important names in Italian design — Piero Lissoni, Giulio Cappellini, and the brands under their art direction. It's a rare kind of exposure, and I'm grateful for it: it teaches you rigour, consistency, respect for the material.

What draws me in is the moment an idea becomes real: the thin space between the blank page and its final form. I like working in that territory — understanding how a concept translates into material, how a line on paper becomes a production-ready curve, how a sketch takes shape in three dimensions. It holds true for a product, a space or an event: ultimately it's the same exercise, at different scales.

In practice, the work begins from a brief or a need, and from there the idea takes form. From that point on, my craft is precisely that of a translator. 3D modelling is the first step — where an idea on paper has to start standing on its own in the real world, and where the first knots to untangle appear. Then comes rendering: the first time something that existed only in the mind of whoever imagined it becomes visible. It's a precious moment, because seeing something for the first time opens the door to proposals — on finishes, colour palettes, possible variations of the product or the space. From there I prepare client presentations and production-ready technical drawings, and when it comes to the prototype I try to be there in person: some details you only grasp in front of the object, details that neither a model nor a render can reveal.

Through all of this I work with three very different parties — the designer (when it isn't me), the client, and the production side. They are three distinct languages, each with its own priorities and needs, and one of the things I'm proudest of is being able to speak them all: to understand what each one requires and to bridge them without losing anything along the way.

Photography closes the circle: it turns the finished project into its final image — the one that tells the story of the work to those who weren't there when it was born.

Over time, though, photography has become a language of its own. Alongside the documentation of my design work and professional shoots for magazines and brands, I wear my camera every day to tell my own stories — and here the image is no longer the last step of a project, but the project itself.