Jacopo della Fontana, studied at the Polytechnic University of Milan, where he graduated in Architecture in 1988 and is a registered architect since 1989. In 1987/1988 he worked in Milan with Achille Castiglioni and Paolo Ferrari as architectural assistant on interiors and exhibition projects.
Since 1989 on his own account he has developed several commercial and residential projects (city apartments and country villas). In 1989/1990 he worked in London with Frederick Gibberd Coombes & Partners Architects, assisting the partner in charge co-ordinating the detailed design stage of the Worcester trade district project. In 1990 he moved to Osaka to collaborate with the multimedia company Access Research Firm in developing a reclamation project for a central area of the city. In 1991/1993 he is back in Milan with Paolo Ferrari as Project Architect for projects such as Abet Laminati new offices in Holland, Germany and the UK and for the interior design of the new Ethnology Museum of Frankfurt, liaising with Richard Meier & Partners of New York who designed the building. He is author of architecture reviews for the architectural magazine “l’Arca” on a regular basis. He is Lecturer in the History of Contemporary Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan where from 1998 he is. In 1994 he joined Progetto CMR, becoming the International Account Director and a Partner in 1999. Among his projects, the new Italian headquarters of Accenture (Andersen Consulting), Gillette, Lazard, Mobil Oil, Nortel Networks, Ogilvy & Mather, Alessi, L’Oreal, Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, Snam and Warner. Within Progetto CMR he has developed the R&D Area, implementing an internal Knowledge Management system and a number of Consulting activities, including change management and virtual office support for Cisco Systems. Other experiences are due diligence and portfolio strategies for Soros Real Estate Partners and Doughty Hanson.
In 2003 he founds, with Corrado Caruso, D2U- Design to Users, of which he is President and CEO, in order to enhance the value of his professional experience gained in more than 20 years of activity in architecture and strategic consultancy. Recent clients include: BNL RE, Carlyle, Exxon-Mobil, Generali, IRI Information Resources, Leo Burnett, Nortel Networks, Pirelli RE, SCA, UBS, Standard & Poor's, BNL BNP Paribas, Citibank.
He his fluent in English and French and has a good knowledge of German and Spanish.