Luca Nichetto STIRred 2023 with an eclectic array of new launches and collaborations

Swedish designer Luca Nichetto's artistic talent painted stories across continents in the vivid canvas of 2023, from the captivating window installations to the intricate collaborations and custom pieces on display at various events. The numerous projects and product designs are more than just practical; they are narratives, works of art, and an appealing union of creativity and innovation. As 2023 draws to a close, STIR reflects on the studio's best attempts to fuse inventive techniques with a creative approach to composition and materials.

1. People

In 2023, Luca Nichetto designed two window installations for Barovier&Toso's new Venice flagship stores. The Burning Light window installation is a visual metaphor for the incandescent flames of the oven. The deconstructed chandelier illustrates Barovier&Toso’s exquisite craft, symbolising the raw power of fire and light, harnessed by skilled artisans to create dazzling masterpieces. The meticulously crafted Venetian glass elements on the lighting design are alive, radiating a kaleidoscope of reflected light from behind a reddish-orange film, pulsating with their unique energy.

The Flora & Flutter window installation is an evocative metaphor for the art of glassworking, and the Venice-based brand's creative essence. The goal was to convey the imagery of leafy plants that grow from Earth, as glass objects sprouting from the fertile silica soil, in this case, a bed of crushed glass. In the upper part of the showcase, glass butterflies and other decorative glass elements are showcased as a homage to the intricate craftsmanship of glass chandeliers.

During Milan Design Week 2023, Luca Nichetto designed various products and projects for designers and brands, like, L’8 a colourful mailbox for Lunardelli Venezia, the Ample chair for Gebrüder Thonet Vienna, a booth at Milan Furniture Fair titled ‘The Village’ for Austrian furniture brand Wittmann and the Argyle lamps for Rakumba lighting. He also designed the ‘Mohd Sinfonia’ installation featuring iconic piano manufacturer Steinway & Sons along with the Gran Nichetto Limited Edition piano designed for Steinway&Sons.

2. Pieces

In the year 2023, Luca Nichetto launched bespoke lighting and furniture designs along with homeware items and accessories. The list includes – table designs Optique and Tuky, and various seating designs like the Ample chair, Domus collection,Figure collection, Robo chair and Sela chair collection. Lighting designs include the Vallonné lamps, Easy Peasy lamps and the Argyle lamp collection along with homeware items like the LCDC Gold collection, Aureola tea set, the Sucabaruca coffee set.

Inspired by Ginori’s age-old technique of hand-applying gold to the edges of their iconic porcelain, Luca Nichetto takes this concept a step further. The stroke of gold, once an understated detail, now takes centre stage as it is magnified, and deliberately applied to the faces of LCDC Gold. This transformation breathed new life into the court of Caterina de’ Medici, a luminary of the 16th century, whose family's patronage fueled the artistic enthusiasm of the Renaissance.

Like a set of friendly characters, a male and a female doll, Easy Peasy portable lamps reflect in their name a playful spirit. With a sculptural design that aims for minimal elegance through rounded shapes, the sculptural design of Easy Peasy is composed of two elements; the body, consisting of a metal base containing an LED source and a white diffuser, a knob placed on top of the structure functions as a dimmer, allowing to vary the intensity of the light that, from warm gradually becomes whiter.

Inspired by the most sought-after jewels of the 1900s designed by Josef Hoffmann, Nichetto Studio wanted to create a collection following the objects’ aim of reflecting the wearer’s individuality into autonomous works of art. Soft geometrical shapes intersect with each other to form the core shape for the Figure collection.

The Tuky side table at first glance, appears to be a piece of furniture more than just a functional bystander. Owing to its outstanding comfort and distinctive shape, the individual pieces become long-term companions, often taking on the status of more of a cherished roommate than an item of furniture. This versatile side table appears to be a monolithic sculpture, a piece of decorative artisanship. Like a loyal companion, Tuky is intended to accompany its owners as they go about their daily lives while demonstrating its talents as an aesthetically pleasing place to put things.

From North America to Australia, the ritual of drinking filtered coffee has become a fact of modern life. Designed in collaboration with Lera Moiseeva, Sucabaruca is a coffee set that draws upon the Scandinavian version of this contemporary ceremony. The porcelain set, composed of a tray, pot, filter and cups, is hand-etched and the tray’s wooden or marble surface features unique patterns.

3. Places

Events to Remeber

At NYCxDesign 2023, Luca Nichetto showcased his Soft Blown lighting design collection and Azores collection. At Milan Design Week 2023 he unveiled his Airbloom and Afloat lamp designs.

STIRred 2023 wraps up the year with compilations of the best in architecture, art, and design from STIR. Did your favourites make the list? Tell us in the comments!