COMMUNITY CRUSADER

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Better than one: designers working together to accomplish big goals.

MORGAN NORMAN

COMMUNITY CRUSADER

Luca Nichetto—one of the most in-demand designers working today—sees collaboration as the highest form of creative innovation.

By Rachel Gallaher

For BemyGuest, a collaborative exhibition that opened during Milan Design Week 2022, Nichetto designed nine anthropomorphic lamps, each representing a unique character: a singer, a journalist, a politician, an influencer, and more. Master tailor Anthony Knight “dressed” each lamp using fabric from Vitale Barberis Canonico.

Italian designer Luca Nichetto does not mince words. Whether talking about his design practice (“I want people to either hate my work or love it. I don’t like when they just say that it’s nice.”), the Venetian glass industry (“So many old companies are totally blind [to the need for modernization] due to their arrogance from being part of the glass mecca for so many years.”), or social media (“I play the game to support what I’m doing, but I’m not going to let these tools dictate the work that I’m making.”), Nichetto’s words are honest, straightforward, and come from a place of integrity—just like his work. Known for playful furniture and lighting designs that are deeply rooted in craftsmanship, Nichetto has become one of the most sought-after individuals working in the field today. And although his talent, creativity, and sheer stick-to-itiveness propelled him to a successful career, he admits that becoming a designer was never his dream. In fact, he spent many of his younger years focused on basketball, using his artistry as a means to make a little extra pocket change during the summers.

“There wasn’t really a moment in my life when I set out to become a designer,” says Nichetto, who was born on the Venetian island of Murano, which is known for producing the finest glass in the world. “Growing up, 99 percent of the people around me were involved in the glass industry [his mother and grandfather included], and I was always around people who made things, so that seemed very normal.”

Born in 1976, Nichetto spent his childhood and adolescent years tearing around Murano with friends. “It was a little bit like being Tom Sawyer,” he recalls. “We were stealing boats, going out to the island in the middle of the Venetian lagoon like pirates, trying to construct these crazy arks … it was a really creative and fun time.”

By the time he reached high school, Nichetto was expected to get a summer »

THIS PAGE: In 2017, Venetian glassmaker and frequent Nichetto collaborator Salviati tapped the designer to create a two-part exhibition with perfumer Ben Gorham titled Decode/Recode for Milan Design Week. The Pyrae installation comprised held 53 stacked-glass works. OPPOSITE: Nichetto is known for championing the art and craft of Venetian glassblowing, and he often works with master glassmakers.

THIS PAGE: The Vallonné suspension lamp, a design by Nichetto for 700-yearold Italian lighting brand Barovier&Toso. OPPOSITE: A close-up of the Strata installation in Decode/ Recode by Nichetto and Gorham for Salviati.

Nichetto purchased an old villa in Stockholm and renovated it to serve as his studio’s Swedish headquarters.

“FURNITURE

DESIGN.

LIGHTING

DESIGN.

FASHION

DESIGN.

FOOD DESIGN.

THE TRUTH

IS THAT

CROSSOVER

BETWEEN THE

DISCIPLINES

IS THE MOST

INTERESTING

WAY TO

INNOVATE

WHAT IS

HAPPENING IN

THE INDUSTRY.”

—LUCA NICHETTO job. “I’m part of a generation, probably the last one in Italy, in which the parents pushed their children to work in the summer,” he says. “So, when school was out, I started at a food shop carrying groceries for people and things like that—but I wasn’t really into it.” A budding entrepreneur, and already a talented artist, Nichetto began visiting glass factories with his friends, selling hand-drawn product designs.

“We’d show up with our folders, knock on the doors, and offer them to look at the drawings,” he says. “They would pay us nothing, like 10 euros, but at the end of the day, I had some money in my pocket. It was my first direct experience with dealing with manufacturers.”

After high school, Nichetto was faced with a choice, or, as he describes it, his first real crisis: continue on to university or pursue a career as a professional basketball player. He had played for some major clubs in Italy, and when he was 16, his team traveled to the United States for an international tournament. “I was good,” he says, “but probably not good enough to really make it.” It was a lesson that stuck with him: Talent can get you far, but one must embrace hard work, perseverance, and daily training to be competitive.

Nichetto earned a degree in industrial design at the local Università Iuav di Venezia, and graduated in 1998. “I read the [class] program, and industrial design was the thing that seemed most appealing to me,” he says. “The first six months were horrible! I didn’t know anything about the technical side of design—everything was related to computer graphics and learning about 3D models and renderings.”

During school breaks and summer holidays, Nichetto continued his routine of peddling sketches to local glass factories. One day, he wound up at Salviati— a glass company that had been operating in Murano since 1859—talking to the brand’s creative director, Simon Moore.

“When Simon saw my drawings, he said, ‘I will buy everything,’” Nichetto says, noting that the first thought that went through his head was, “Wow, my summer will be amazing!” Moore then clarified that he would buy all of the drawings, but he didn’t plan to produce any of the products. “Simon said, ‘I want you to see that you have talent, but it’s also pretty clear that you have no idea what this company needs,’” Nichetto recalls. After purchasing the sketches, Moore invited the budding designer to visit the factory once a week, to learn how each department operated. Nichetto remembers meeting many of his design heroes at the Salviati factory: Tom Dixon, Thomas Heatherwick, Amanda Levete, Ingo Maurer, Ross Lovegrove.

After a year of shadowing Moore, Nichetto received a brief from Salviati asking him to design a piece using a difficult, traditional glassmaking technique in which a master glazier embeds large air bubbles in the surface of the glass. The resulting Millebolle vase collection became an instant bestseller. Nichetto was just 24 years old.

“My own studio started in the moment that I signed for those Salviati vases,” Nichetto says, “but at the time I was working in my parents’ basement.” Opportunities started coming his way: an internship with lighting company Foscarini, the rental of his own tiny studio in Venice, and the release of his breakthrough product, the O Space suspension lamp through Foscarini. When that piece hit the market, projects started to flood in.

After six years working as a freelance designer, Nichetto set up his own multidisciplinary practice, Nichetto Studio, in 2006, and began designing under that mantle, while continuing to collaborate on furniture and lighting with international brands including Cassina, De La Espada, Lodes, Barovier&Toso, and dozens more. In 2010, Nichetto moved to Stockholm (his wife, who is from Sweden, accepted a job offer there) and started splitting his time between two countries, a move that had a big impact on his work.

“For a designer, Italy is really a jungle,” he says. “People there are so ambitious and always protecting their territory. It’s much easier and more collaborative in Scandinavia. But, at the same time, Scandinavian design tends to be super safe. Designers there aren’t usually looking to do something bold.”

Nichetto’s designs are a considered balance of restraint and playfulness. He’s not afraid of color and his experimentation with form often yields organic shapes, in particular, lots of round elements, smooth edges, and curves. Storytelling comes into play as

well, but only if it’s authentic. “I hate when there’s a buildup of story just to make it easy to market something. There are projects that have a strong story born from material or technique, and those are the most successful—that might sound boring, but it’s the truth.”

Nichetto follows a long line of Italian design masters including Ettore Sottsass, Achille Castiglioni, and Piero Lissoni—men with big personalities and bold approaches to their work. Nichetto recognizes their invaluable contributions to the field and influence on his practice, but he believes that the only way to meaningfully evolve the design industry is by expanding practices beyond a singular vernacular or approach. Collaboration and community are frequent topics in his interviews and on his Opinionated podcast, on which he converses with friends, colleagues, and creatives from around the world.

Nichetto is not afraid to speak out about the state of the glassblowing industry, especially in Murano. In June, the New York Times published a story about the industry’s decline, attributing it to the stagnation of tourism, increased mass-market manufacturing, and the lack of young skilled workers seeking employment by the factories. Nichetto is skeptical of this assessment, and points to Washington’s Pilchuck Glass School as a model for strengthening the industry and bringing fresh perspectives to Murano.

“Since I was born, people have been talking about the ‘crisis’ in Murano,” he says. “The truth is that if the bigger companies there stopped fighting with one another and invested in a common school that embraced people from around the world, it would change the trajectory of the industry.”

In 2021, Nichetto’s love for his Murano roots was on full display when he curated a group show at the InGalleria Art Gallery at Punta Conterie in Venice. Empathic. Discovering a Glass Legacy invited eight designers, including Ini Archibong, Benjamin Hubert, and Elena Salmistraro, to create pieces under the supervision of master glassmakers. Nichetto’s contribution, Mecha—a series of robot-esque busts on stone pedestals— is a nod to the 1970s-era anime series UFO Robot Grendizer—known as Goldrake in Italy—one of Nichetto’s childhood favorites.

“Luca’s artistic talents were cultivated by the glassmaking industry,” says Sara Pedrali, head of the design department at Barovier&Toso, the Italian lighting company with a 700-plus-year history. Nichetto has collaborated with the company on several projects. “He truly understands where we come from and the language of glass,” she adds. “He is well acquainted with the gesture of glassblowing: crystallizing an unprecedented moment into a lasting work of art.”

In addition to collaboration, Nichetto is also considering his approach to design thinking. “Before COVID-19, I was quite bored of the design industry,” he says. “It’s very repetitive, you’re always working on another chair or another sofa. During the pandemic, I would sit in my office and sketch, and I started realizing that when it comes to design, we put each discipline into a box. Furniture design. Lighting design. Fashion design. Food design. The truth is that crossover between the disciplines is the most interesting way to innovate what is happening in the industry.”

Currently, Nichetto is testing out this approach, and keeping busy, with a large assortment of projects, including a new furniture collection set to come out in 2023. This October, Steinway is debuting a limited-edition Nichettodesigned piano, the Gran Nichetto. More than four years in the making, the instrument, which is available in several different finishes, celebrates elegantly curved form of a traditional Venetian gondola. Other recent projects include a handbag design for fashion brand Angela Roi (also out in October) and the purchase and renovation of a historic villa in Stockholm that serves as the Swedish headquarters for Nichetto Studio.

“Over the past couple of years, I’ve had the opportunity to think about creativity in a 360-degree way,” Nichetto says. “I’m not only thinking about an object, but I’m also thinking about how I can apply my design approach across disciplines. Say I was designing a raincoat. Could I apply the approach I used for that to designing a sofa? How would that change or inform the design? Could it push it forward in a new way? After 20 years, in this moment in my career, that’s really what’s driving me now.” h

FROM TOP: The Tabata lamp, designed by Nichetto for &Tradition; The Wolfgang lounge chair by Nichetto for Fornasarig; the first monograph on Nichetto Studio, published in 2022 by Phaidon; the Jeometrica modular home furnishings system, designed by Nichetto for Scavolini, debuted at Salone del Mobile 2022; the Gran Nichetto, a limitededition Nichetto-designed piano by Steinway.