Meet the Designer

The image shows a middle-aged man with a bald head, glasses, and a beard, wearing a black shirt.

Brooklyn-based architect, designer and father of two Roberto Gil was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He received his Masters in Architecture from Harvard University in 1990, and worked as an architect for Fox & Fowle and Agrest and Gandelsonas Architects in New York before starting his furniture company in 1992. Roberto’s colorful pieces were soon seen in the windows of Barneys New York, FAO Schwarz and in the museum shops of the Whitney Museum, the Guggenheim and the MoMA. Roberto has designed successful furniture collections for Offi, Crate and Barrel and Williams-Sonoma. His influences include Gerit Rietveld, Jean Prouve, Le Corbusier and Donald Judd, as well as a delight in everyday objects and pop culture.

As an architect, Roberto understands the space in which his furniture lives, particularly the small, oddly shaped rooms that often characterize urban dwellings. Roberto finds creative, customized solutions to the challenges these spaces pose through an understanding of circulation, lighting, orientation, air flow, and privacy - and how these elements affect the layout of a room. 

Ultimately, Roberto’s pieces are less designed than constructed. They are marked by an efficient use of materials and intuitive connection systems, and it is no surprise that he cites sawhorses and scaffolding as inspirations for his own version of practical minimalism.

To watch where Roberto gets his creativity and why he started to design, please view that video here.


The Early Designs

Since its founding in 1992, Casa Kids has embraced a simple approach to its designs: functionality above decor and durability over most everything else. We achieve longevity in our products by building adaptable systems of furniture that are designed to evolve just as kids do. Once a child grows out of his or her loft bed, for example, the cabinets underneath the loft can be moved and used as independent pieces. None of the rooms we design are themed so the furniture will never appear dated or outgrown. We have been watching children interact with our furniture for more than 25 years and our designs are shaped by their size and scale, as well as by how the world looks from their (slightly shorter) perspectives. Our furniture is ergonomically appropriate for children’s smaller bodies and is designed to engage a child’s imagination by providing safe and creative spaces for work and play.

A creative setup of colorful toy chairs and tables in a playful arrangement.

A small yellow and blue cabinet with open doors and a drawer, set against a rustic backdrop
Colorful toy bench in yellow, green, and red, with small balls on the ground.
Camera on tripod facing a miniature set with a table and chair against a blue backdrop.
Miniature wooden desk in beige and red, featuring a drawer and spherical wooden knobs.
A toy chair in pale blue and red with a drawer, accompanied by two colored balls.