Bridging Traditional and Contemporary Aesthetics in Kitchens Worldwide
Recognized as one of the most influential people in the kitchen design industry, Mick De Giulio does it again with his 1,000 square foot design of the 2012 House Beautiful Kitchen of the Year, showcased in New York’s Rockefeller Center as a bevy of celebrity chefs dazzle passersby with out of this world creations within an equally tantalizing foodie sanctuary.
With numerous international awards and extensive publications from the Netherlands to Japan featuring his work, De Giulio designs dream kitchens for the international elite including CEOs, celebrities, the Ritz-Carlton, and even the cabinetry for the Blair House, the Presidential guest house in Washington D.C. His creativity doesn’t stop there as De Giulio also plays a distinct role behind the scenes as consultant to a select handful of the world’s very best international kitchen product brands including Wolf, Sub-Zero, Germany’s SieMatic and Kallista – a Kohler company.
His creative and artistic approach to design blends modern and classical, as his distinctive compositions are inspired by cultural influences and technology. With over 40 years experience and two Chicago based showrooms, De Giulio’s sought after style combines a sensibility to craft, fine detail, and classic proportion. Now in print depicted vibrantly throughout his first book, Kitchen Centric, De Giulio allows the public into his private domain, with a new spin on the kitchen-centered lifestyle; where the kitchen is a home’s focal point for discussion, entertaining and real life living instead of a back-of-the-house room not to be seen or heard. Kitchen Centric is part art book, part fantasy, and part field guide taking readers on a tour through eighteen of his favorite projects including urban lofts, high-rise condominiums, manor houses, mountain retreats, and an early twentieth-century barn. But Kitchen Centric is not just another lovely coffee table book full of pretty pictures. Yes, the kitchens are high end and fabulous, but De Giulio provides real life lessons with a behind the scenes peek into his own designer’s journal, explaining his challenges, his thinking, his choices, his process, and ultimately his belief that kitchens are more central to homes than ever before.
De Giulio says his passion lies in creating kitchens that feed the soul. “I believe a great kitchen has a magic to it that transforms the physical room into a feeling. People are drawn to that kitchen and they may not know why. The kitchen sings. It is my job to write the music. I may call myself a kitchen designer, but what I really do is orchestrate and conduct the dreaming process.”
What’s next for the design guru when he seems to have accomplished it all? Why, nothing less than spending time in the stunningly beautiful village of Bernalda, in Italy’s captivating southern region, where De Giulio will transform the kitchen and terrace of a lavish 500-year-old palazzo.
