Marco Cimatti

Marco Cimatti is an industrial designer and design strategist with more than 25 years of experience working across design consultancies, technology companies, and global corporations. He is drawn to the intersection of design, research, and strategy, with a particular interest in circular systems and reuse. His hands-on approach to design is central to his practice: using sketches, quick prototypes, and other tangible forms to explore ideas, uncover unexpected insights, and build alignment.

Before joining the faculty at RISD, Marco spent 11 years at PepsiCo, where he was the first in-house designer dedicated to exploring opportunities beyond single-use beverages. As design director, he helped grow PepsiCo’s Beyond the Bottle design team from one to 10 people and led innovation initiatives spanning products, packaging, systems, and long-term strategy. He co-created the vision for what became Sodastream Professional, a connected ecosystem of hydration dispensers built for reusable vessels. During its operation, the system helped eliminate more than 10 million 16-ounce single-use bottles. 

Earlier in his career, he worked in digital service design at Telefónica I+D in Madrid and as a product designer at Continuum and Michael Graves Design Group, with clients including Target Stores, Lenox, Allsteel, Chicco/Artsana, and Saeco.

Marco has taught industrial design in Italy and Mexico. He holds a BFA in Industrial Design from Rhode Island School of Design and a Master of Design Methods from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology.