Inspiring Conversations with Mario Capasa of Mario Capasa

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mario Capasa.

Hi Mario, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Mario Capasa was born in Verona, Italy, in 1986, and grew up surrounded by design. His father, Mario Capasa Sr., founded Laboratorio Capasa in the 1980s near Verona, where he built bespoke seating systems for boutique hotels and private residences. His mother, Sofia De Laurentis Capasa, designed textiles for Italian fashion houses, so the family home was always filled with sketches, fabric swatches, and the smell of wood and varnish. That environment shaped how Mario saw the world.

Mario Capasa studied Design at the Politecnico di Milano, where the curriculum still leaned on the methods of Sottsass, Magistretti, and Bellini— the generation that turned Italian furniture into a system of production rather than a series of one-offs. Their work was on every drafting table: Bellini’s sectional blueprints, Sottsass’s color grids, Magistretti’s radius notes on chair backs. Capasa admired how disciplined they were, but what stayed with him was what they didn’t teach— how a piece should feel when someone finally sits in it.

That gap made sense to Capasa because of how he grew up. His father’s factory built hotel lounges that had to survive luggage carts and late nights; his mother stitched upholstery that changed a room just by catching the light differently. Between them, he learned that a sofa isn’t finished until it has a reason to be touched. That idea— editorial on the outside, practical on the inside—became the thread of his later work.

After graduation, he spent nearly a decade abroad, working on projects in Kyoto, Copenhagen, São Paulo, New York, and Marrakech, studying how different cultures approached space, proportion, and rest.

When Capasa returned to Italy, he began building prototypes in his father’s old studio. The studio was small, with a handful of designers building modular systems that could change with their owners– pieces that looked gallery-ready but behaved like something meant for everyday life: modules you could lift alone, covers you could strip and wash, corners you could rearrange without tools.

By 2018, after steady demand from private clients, Capasa launched Mario Capasa in the United States to deliver the Comfort Collection to a broader audience— not just through designers or custom orders. The goal was simple: bring modular furniture for the comfort-obsessed straight into people’s homes. Two years later, Mario Capasa opened the brand’s flagship showroom in Beverly Hills. Relocating the brand to Los Angeles felt like a natural step—a bridge between Italian lineage and American modernism.

Today, The Mario Capasa Group works globally across residential, hospitality, retail, and commercial projects. What began as his father’s small workshop in Verona has become an international brand, still rooted in the same belief it was built on: comfort belongs at the center of design.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Early on, sourcing materials that met both Italian standards and U.S. safety certifications nearly stalled production. Moving operations to Los Angeles meant re-establishing supplier relationships, translating European modular engineering to American building codes, and protecting design integrity while scaling fulfillment. During the pandemic, freight delays and factory closures forced the brand to reimagine its production model, adopting a hybrid system that mixed Italian-made components with domestic assembly.

Capasa overcame these challenges by rebuilding supplier relationships on both continents, creating a dual-production model that combined Italian-made components with U.S. assembly, and collaborating with local engineers to adapt the brand’s modular systems to American codes while preserving its original quality and feel.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Mario Capasa is a furniture retailer known for its premium collections of modular sofas, sectional couches, and loveseats. Customers can shop online for home, living room, bedroom, office, and more.

The brand focuses on making comfort the center of your life. Mario Capasa specializes in high-end sectional sofas, with a product line built around ultra-modular, cloud-soft designs that redefine comfort and flexibility.

The brand’s core collections— the Signature Collections, include Mellow, Feathers, Amora, Tivoli, and The 5th, which center on customizable sectionals that can be endlessly reconfigured to fit evolving spaces. Each piece is designed with tool-free assembly, removable and machine-washable covers, and a focus on premium materials like feather-down fill or hyper foam cushioning.

While sectionals are the hero product, the brand also offers matching armchairs, ottomans, and minimalist accent pieces that extend the modular aesthetic into every corner of the home.

Mario Capasa also offers a suite of support services built around customization, volume access, and decision-making tools. Capasa Studio is a digital platform that generates AI-based furniture visuals on request, giving users a way to preview styles and configurations before buying.

The Trade Program gives architects, designers, and studios access to member pricing, early product drops, and managed delivery for bulk orders. Free Interior Design connects customers with in-house stylists who review room details and return full layout suggestions and matching furniture selections.

Project Request is a submission form for large-scale or custom orders, built to support multi-room, hospitality, or commercial furnishing needs with organized timelines and quotes.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
Capasa often credits his success to a small circle of collaborators who helped turn his family legacy into a modern global brand. In Milan, several professors at Politecnico di Milano mentored him through his early studies and work, shaping his approach to balance human comfort with structure in design. His late parents, Mario Capasa Sr. and Sofia De Laurentis Capasa, remain the foundation—his father taught him the discipline of construction, his mother the importance in comfort.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mariocapasa.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mario_capasa
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarioCapasa
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mario-capasa
• Twitter: https://x.com/mariocapasa
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarioCapasaOfficial
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/mario-capasa-west-hollywood-2
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/MarioCapasa

Image Credits
Kayle Kaupanger