Giuseppe Scapinelli

architect and designer

An Italian-born designer, born in 1891, was simultaneously a furniture manufacturer and retailer in São Paulo during the 1950s and 60s.

Trained as an architect, Scapinelli was forced to leave his native Italy after the Second World War in search of new horizons.

With an adventurous spirit, he arrived in Brazil in 1948, settled in the city of São Paulo, and began working as an architect for Count Francesco Matarazzo.

In 1950 he opened an office and began working as an architect-decorator alongside an excellent team of carpenters, also immigrants.

He was a contributor to Casa e Jardim magazine for many years, in a column called Scapinelli Responds, where he even asked in the 1950s, "Why is there so much monotony and bad taste in home decoration?"

He opened a very successful furniture and interior design gallery, Margutta, located on Rua Augusta. There, together with carpenters and artisans, he produced high-end furniture.

Unfortunately, as the years passed, he was forced to close the gallery because the market increasingly demanded furniture that was manufactured quickly and of lower quality. Therefore, Scapinelli would no longer work there; his commitment to quality and high standards in furniture was too great, and he ended up leaving the sector.

Architect, furniture designer, ceramist, photographer, writer, and restaurant owner, that was Giuseppe Scapinelli, yet another Italian-Brazilian to shine as one of the pioneers of furniture design in Brazil.

A designer of Italian origin, born in 1891, he was at the same time a furniture maker and retailer 1950s/1960s in São Paulo.

His style is easily recognizable because of the curved lines and smooth shapes, a far cry from the main designs of his fellow retailers and probably inspired by 1940s Italian design. His pieces are beautifully crafted in traditional Brazilian wood.

He designed and produced many exclusive pieces for different houses in São Paulo. Scapinelli died in 1982.