About

I work where product, brand, and operations meet — and I’ve always built things, one way or another.

I’m Jakob Flingelli — architect by training, builder by habit — based in Merano, South Tyrol.

The spark was early. Summer holidays meant side projects: making things, selling things to friends and family, learning what people actually want. At 13 I helped in my uncle’s shop and discovered the thrill (and humility) of serving real customers.

Since then I’ve lived in a few places that shaped my eye — Bavaria, Japan, Hawaii, Copenhagen, South Africa — with my longest chapter in Berlin. Different lights, different rhythms, same obsession: taste and design. Whatever I studied or built, it always came back to one thing: how things look, feel, and fit into a day.

These days, my work sits where product, brand, and operations meet. I help teams go from fuzzy idea to shipped: clear story, tight scope, tangible results. Make it clear. Make it work. Make it ship.

I also once ran a small coffee shop. It taught me a useful, unglamorous lesson: I don’t want to own a café again. (I’m glad I did it; I’m happier designing experiences than managing rotas.) That same practicality now runs through everything I build and write.

Along the way, I’ve co-founded start-ups, managed products, taught marketing, and worked with companies from telecoms to construction.

These days I publish From Europe with Love, a weekly note on products and brands worth your time. On the side: small hospitality experiments, design notes from places that get it right, and the kind of details you only notice when they’re missing.

If that sounds like your lane, subscribe to the newsletter, read something, or just say hi.