Luca Nichetto, the man who creates a buzz

Luca Nichetto defines himself as being “like a bee that buzzes from flower to flower”.  He produces his honey and spreads it around the world in one deft stroke of his wings. It would be hard to be any more cosmopolitan than this Venetian native now living in Sweden. Raised in Murano, where his grandfather was a glassmaker, he naturally began his career at Salviati before joining the team at Foscarini. An industrial designer, his two studios in Venice and Stockholm create furnishings and accessories, architecture and installations. Luca Nichetto has worked with an impressive number of European design houses, from the Netherlands’ Moooi and Spain’s Sancal to Swedish firm Skultuna 1607, not to mention a couple of prestigious compatriots, Moroso and Cassina. He’s been friends for many years with Japanese designer Oki Sato of Nendo.

"Being a designer in 2020 is about having a global outlook. I’m Italian. My compatriots have all unquestionably developed a recognisable design style, as have Scandinavian and Japanese designers. I like to see design as a communal effort. The recent crisis has shown that we all are connected. It would be ridiculous to keep talking about borders."

In France, he is Artistic Director of La Manufacture, an ambitious project launched in November 2019 and spearheaded by the Cider Group’s Robert Acouri. La Manufacture is a multicultural design house that is industrial, artisanal and sustainable. It fuses high-flying design with fashion under the artistic direction of stylist Milena Laquale. In the Parisian showroom, Luca Nichetto exhibits alongside Patrick Norguet, Sebastian Herkner and Nendo.

A fine connoisseur of all things Chinese, since 2013 he has been responsible for the artistic direction of new brand ZaoZuo, aimed at China’s new middle classes. A truly mammoth project, into which he has also drafted French designer Constance Guisset, amongst others. Recently, he’s been working with the Stellar Works brand, based in Shanghai, rooted in Japanese culture and whose sights are firmly set on bridging the gap between East and West. His expertise naturally led to him being invited to sit on the Jury for the inaugural Maison&Objet Design Award China. The Awards, presented in January 2021, will celebrate young Chinese designers from across the country. “After years of offering absolutely nothing, a veritable design void, the Chinese are seeking to carve out their design identity, and it’s not always plain sailing, “ he explains. “Young designers are seeking inspiration from the country’s most iconic historical periods, such as the Ming dynasty, for example.” The middle classes, keen to secure a certain quality of life, are dictating design codes.

Nichetto’s recipe? Working as a group, forging ties with the rest of the team, basically having fun designing the useful and likeable things people actually need. Each idea always stems from an emotion, and is then powered forward by impeccable technique, faultless knowledge of materials and a finely honed understanding of hues. Patrizia Moroso speaks of his multi-cultural approach, whilst ZaoZuo’s Shu Wei says they hired “the best”. Oki Sato appreciates the family feel of his teams, and Canadian John Baker from Mjölk applauds his ability to create designs that strike the perfect balance between artisanal and industrial. At 44 years of age, Luca Nichetto is spreading his wings and flying between fertile projects and new lands. Precisely what bees do.