Filippo Gabbiani and Andrea Destefanis after graduated from IUAV, moved by their instinctive curiosity for different disciplines and other cultures, worked in several European and north America countries cooperating with prestigious firms of architecture, interior and industrial design before founding together Kokaistudios in 1999.
Filippo Gabbiani and Andrea Destefanis received international acclaim for their range of projects and visions across all typologies and scales of design especially for their social and environmental sustainable approach and their experimental and innovative research on materials expressionism.
Working with state-owned and private developers in China, Southeast Asia and Middle East they gave their contributions to the urban regeneration of several cities with the design of mix-used projects that reconnect commercial, corporate and cultural lifestyle activities to the social environments.
At last the continuous research of innovative application of materials extends naturally to the development of custom designed products furniture and lighting systems cooperating with prestigious brands as Lualdi, Viabizzuno and other international renowned manufactures.
Inspired by the traditional vocation of Venetian traders and explorers, Kokaistudios project started from Venice and become immediately international opening offices in Denmark, Hong Kong and finally establishing its headquarter in the multicultural global hub of Shanghai in 2002, from where the studio become a renowned award winning practice establishing an international identity with a wide variety of projects around the world.
Over the past 25 years Gabbiani and Destefanis have been responsible for many award winning projects including several Unesco awarded recognized projects like the renovation of the historical Standard Charted Bank on the Bund 18 of Shanghai transformed into a lifestyle destination, the reconfiguration of the historical site of Huai Hai road 796 in Shanghai with the establishment of the headquarter of several brands of the international luxury conglomerate of Richemont Group and the creation of unique cultural experiences like the new restaurant of Four Seasons Resort inserted into a protected and restored historical Japanese garden in the Temple Quarter of Kyoto.
Their cooperation spread also in other markets with the strategic design of retail brands worldwide such as Vacheron Constantin, Dunhill, Miele and Peet’s Coffee, the creation of innovative flagship and concept stores, and refined hospitality space design for a variety of international operators such as Four Seasons, Le Meridien, Shangri La and others.
