Launched in 2015, Joogii is a Los Angeles-based design studio focusing primarily on objects and projects that bridge the gap between art, fashion, design, and music. Husband-and-wife cofounders Diogo Felippelli and Juliette Mutzke-Felippelli first met in 2006 on a dance floor in Rio de Janeiro; Felippelli was DJing and Mutzke-Felippelli was an exchange student at the time. Music continues to play a vital role in their design practice, like, for instance, the studio’s debut projects, French Touch Chair prototype (January 2016) and the French Touch Collection (August 2016). Inspired by 1990’s French house music, this geometrically shaped, iridescent furniture and accessories series is composed of CNC-cut acrylic that’s hand-coated with dichroic film. Describing their aesthetic, the pair notes that they are motivated by “pieces that create an energy and bring dynamism into a room.”
The French Touch Chair was exhibited at WantedDesign during New York Design Week 2016. That same week, the studio was nominated for a NYCxDESIGN Emerging Talent award by Interior Design Magazine. Hospitality Design Magazine went on to spotlight Joogii as one of “5 Product Designers to Watch” and referred to the French Touch Collection as “the Memphis movement for the 21st century.” French Touch Collection was also exhibited at the WestEdge Design Fair in Los Angeles in 2016.
Diogo Felippelli was born in 1981 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He studied communications at Rio’s Faculdades Integradas Helio Alonso (FACHA), graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in 2003. He went on to attend Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM), also in Rio, earning a Master’s in Business Administration in 2008. His professional background includes work in a variety of creative disciplines, including photography, music production, graphic design, and branding. Juliette Mutzke-Felippelli was born in 1986 in Newport Beach, California; she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Global Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2008, graduating Cum Laude; she went on to earn an Associate of Arts degree from LA’s Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in 2015, where she was also the recipient of the Sally Sirkin Lewis Award for exceptional creativity and innovation.
