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Friday Five with David Galullo of Rapt Studio

Since being appointed CEO in 2011, David Galullo has turned Rapt Studio from a traditional architecture and interior design practice into a 360-degree firm that provides clients with everything from fully-developed brand identity to game-changing workplaces, showrooms, and retail spaces. Under his leadership, Rapt Studio has grown from 32 employees to more than 70, across three offices, with a practice that spans the globe. To fuel the studio’s growth, David has implemented revolutionary practices as well as an approach to global brands that considers diplomacy alongside efficiency and company culture. David says, “I believe that life and work outcomes are enhanced through this strategic design expression. It’s a major responsibility to create a space where people spend most of their day; where they sleep or work; where they define their professional or personal lives. Design that is authentically relevant to a company’s mission is intrinsic to its success.”Rapt Studio’s notable clients under Galullo include Google, HBO, Paypal, Dropbox, The North Face, Turner Media, Vans, Fender, and many others. Today he takes a moment to share a few of his favorites in Friday Five.

1. A Great Bottle of Wine
I am a weekend winemaker and everyday wine drinker. From a maker perspective it is the perfect balance of artistry and chemistry. Plus, there is a community among winemakers that is unlike any other – defined by a spirit of camaraderie, mentoring, and shared experience. AND there are very few things better than friends gathered around a great bottle of wine.

2. A Stand Up Meeting Table
A home for impromptu conversations and touch-downs, keeping participants alert, focused, and succinct. No overstuffed leather conference chair here – just the weight of gravity and the gravity of keeping meetings efficient and meaningful.

3. Ronchamp (Notre Dame du Haut)
I mean, c’mon. Anyone who has been here will tell you… well, if they can find the words, how transformative an event it is to spend the day here. I have been many times, and with each visit I become even more in awe of the sheer magic of this building, it’s siting, and the idea of culminating a pilgrimage at this holiest of holy places. It is a living testament to its power to tear through language barriers, through religious denominations, and through formal architectural thinking to create a form that is at once at home on the land as it is in the heavens.

4. 1950’s McCoy Pottery
Strong in form, subtle in relief pattern, devoid of decorative color, this collection is a gathering of craftsmanship and restraint. I am in love with the classic forms, the subtle beauty, and play of elegance against a slightly rustic reality of pottery making in the 50’s.

5. Design Thinking
As the Chief Creative Officer of a creative studio, I have always believed in the power of design thinking to change the world, to solve the most complex problems, and to bring people together for good. There is an incredible thing that happens when you gather people of many disciplines, varied points of view, but all designers of a sort. The result is surprising, innovative, creative, and often times culturally relevant.

Photos courtesy of Rapt Studio

Kelly Beall is Director of Branded Content at Design Milk. The Pittsburgh-based writer and designer has had a deep love of art and design for as long as she can remember, from Fashion Plates to MoMA and far beyond. When not searching out the visual arts, she's likely sharing her favorite finds with others. Kelly can also be found tracking down new music, teaching herself to play the ukulele, or on the couch with her three pets – Bebe, Rainey, and Remy. Find her @designcrush on social.