About Mads Caprani

Mads “Micheli Alessio” Caprani (1942–2014) trained as an electrician and then an electrical engineer at Copenhagen’s Technical College. He joined Louis Poulsen, where he collaborated with mid-century masters Arne Jacobsen, Poul Henningsen, and Verner Panton, an experience that ignited his ambition to design.

In 1967, his father acquired the Rotaflex lighting factory. Mads joined ten years later and rebranded it as Caprani Light, which he expanded into a global lighting company with branches across Europe and the U.S.

Caprani’s defining achievement emerged in the 1970s with the Timberline Floor Lamp, a sculptural icon featuring a sinuous, question mark-inspired wooden spine that juxtaposes oak, birch, and cast iron. It became his flagship design and earned him international recognition.

Although Caprani Light eventually closed, GUBI revived his work, resurrecting the Timberline as a design classic. This revival helped cement Caprani’s legacy as a creative force in sculptural Scandinavian lighting.