We’re extremely excited to introduce two of our first contributors to Ligature Journal Issue One! We would like you all to meet Anna Citelli and Raoul Bretzel, the two Italian designers behind the thought-provoking and innovative project, Capsula Mundi.

Anna Citelli is a designer living and working in Milan, although she was born in Venezuela. She, along with two friends, founded ASC — a team of illustrators, matte painters and CGI artists offering support to the creative industries. Prior to this she worked in advertising agencies as a freelance visualiser. She has worked in a diverse range of mediums and across many subject matters, able to move from creating giant 3D lips to fashioning rag dolls depicting famous people.

Originally an industrial designer, Raoul Bretzel rejected the lack of respect for ecological ethics that is inherent in mass production, and is now embracing projects in what he calls the ‘less frequented areas of design’. He is a designer that is conscious and passionate about the materials he uses, focussing particularly on the possibilities of wood. His projects have been exhibited world wide, including his Eola lamp which is in the design collection of MOMA, New York. He lives and works in Rome.

Capsula Mundi is the big idea that has grown from the fertile collaboration of these two diverse and passionate Italian designers. Originally a submission for the “Salone del Mobile” in Milian in 2003, the design investigates two main points — how to create an evocative object which can change the way we think about death, and what the environmental impact that object has.