Mick De Giulio is an acclaimed American designer and creator recognized for his modern interiors and merchandise. His agency, de Giulio Design, features a Chicago studio and a Michigan steel crafts studio. The designer is famend for reimagining properties with a concentrate on expansive kitchen-centric designs. De Giulio’s work spotlights versatility and serene, shared areas. He’s an knowledgeable in craftsmanship and the usage of distinctive supplies, and De Giulio’s residential initiatives will be present in North America, Europe and the Western Pacific.
De Giulio’s product designs embrace bespoke furnishings and licensed collections for manufacturers reminiscent of SieMatic, Kallista and Visible Consolation & Co. Right here, De Giulio discusses his profession, inspirations and the impetus behind creating the “Barbie Penthouse” in Los Angeles.
WWD: Inform us about de Giulio Design. What kinds of initiatives does the agency work on?
Mick De Giulio: Our work is kind of numerous. When I began the corporate 40 years in the past, the emphasis was on residential kitchen and loo design. Through the years, that advanced into doing full residential interiors, and industrial work together with a number of check and demonstration kitchen initiatives, after which product design.
I’ve by no means turned a mission down due to its classification. I used to be lately requested by the pastor of a 100-plus-year-old church within the Little Italy part of Chicago to work with him on the renovation of the church’s inside which I’m very enthusiastic about and shall be accomplished in early 2026.
WWD: As you look again over the previous 4 a long time since launching the agency, what are among the milestones and memorable moments?
M.D.G.: After I began my agency, my first workplace was at one finish of our kids’s bed room on the second stage of our Chicago bungalow. I truly constructed my drafting desk, desk and file cupboard, and did every little thing: all designing, drafting, receiving deliveries, managing initiatives and doing the books. I ultimately opened a studio in Wilmette, Illinois, and employed a workers — a few of whom are nonetheless working with me at the moment — and simply stored evolving.
Early on, I partnered with SieMatic, a widely known German kitchen producer, as they had been starting to determine themselves within the U.S. By the early ‘90s I used to be creating our personal design parts to reinforce the SieMatic kitchen initiatives we put in. Throughout a go to to my studio in Chicago, the late proprietor of SieMatic, Mr. August Siekmann seen these designs and requested if I’d work with him on creating new merchandise for his firm. Collectively we developed the Painter’s Assortment, which turned a world bestseller.
By this time, our mission work had additionally grown considerably to incorporate not solely kitchens and bogs, however in depth designs and installations of residential interiors throughout the U.S. and overseas.
I went on to design extra product for SieMatic together with the Hudson Valley Line, which was chosen for the kitchen which was a part of a significant renovation of the historic Blair Home (the presidential visitor home) in Washington, D.C., and within the early 2000s, I designed the Beaux Arts line, which additionally turned one other worldwide bestseller. I’ve continued to work on that line and the subsequent iteration is slated to be launched in early 2026.
In 2008, as a result of I used to be designing a lot utilizing metals, we bought a steel fabricating firm the place we now do all of our personal steel work.
On the identical time, I used to be employed to do extra product design work for different corporations, together with sinks and taps for Kallista and lights for Visible Consolation & Co.
I’ve printed two books on kitchen design (“Kitchen Centric,” 2010, and “Kitchen,” 2015) and am engaged on a 3rd to be printed in early 2026.
The kitchen within the Barbie Penthouse.
WWD: How would you describe your design ethos?
M.D.G.: I take a look at each mission as a possibility to create one thing recent.
WWD: What makes for good design?
M.D.G.: Good design is easy, edited and purposeful and brings a smile to your face.
WWD: And the place do you discover inspiration?
M.D.G.: Creativity, for me, can come up from one thing out of context like going for a stroll, coming upon an fascinating phrase in a narrative, or listening to music — it’s random. It doesn’t essentially occur at a drafting board with a pencil in hand or occur whereas engaged on any particular mission.
WWD: What was the impetus behind creating the Barbie Penthouse?
M.D.G.: L.A. designer and pal, Nicole Sassaman, known as and requested if we’d work together with her on a singular mission: a rental in L.A. that had been beforehand owned by Barbara Segal, the daughter of the founders of Mattel and the real-life namesake for Barbie. We rapidly dubbed it the Barbie Penthouse, and we aimed to seize the enjoyable and power that got here from the creation and story of Barbie.