Ginori 1735 Leaps Into Furnishings With Luca Nichetto
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MILAN — Founded in 1735, before the American Revolution and before the Unification of Italy in 1861, Ginori 1735 plates were among the most famous in the modern world. Marquis Carlo Andrea Ginori’s porcelain was collected by most of Europe’s nobility, among his greatest fans was said to be Napoleon I’s wife Marie Louise of Austria.
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After Richard Ginori was acquired by Kering in 2013, it ventured into home decor, fragrances and tableware to adapt to a digitally frenzied era. Today, nearly 300 years after its inception, it’s taking a bold step into the world of furnishings with Venetian designer Luca Nichetto and the Domus collection of statement pieces — coffee tables, lamps, chairs, poufs and accessories.
The company feted the occasion with a dinner at Milan’s upscale Moebius Milano restaurant on Tuesday, followed by a concert by the Italian pop band Disco Club Paradiso. The Domus collection will be on display starting Wednesday at the Ginori 1735 flagship at Piazza San Marco, 3 in Milan’s Brera district.
Nichetto’s design aesthetic and ethos have evolved over time — influenced by his travels and famous collaborations he’s inked since starting Nichetto Studio firm in 2006 — but his creative vision and fate was sealed since birth. A native of Venetian island of Murano, Nichetto was practically raised around the kiln — his grandfather made Venetian glass chandeliers and his mother was glass decorator.
A former semi-pro basketball player, Nichetto traded the court for university where he studied industrial design, a school of thought in Italy which has led to iconic pieces in home, decor and furnishings.
“In American Anglo-Saxon world, when you say industrial design it usually refers to tech or consumer electronics, but in Italy, when I translate industrial design, we say disegno, which in Italy is connected with an artisan and that makes all the difference…because the industry is artisan.”
To his credit, the number and breadth of his collaborations are tantamount to that of great legends like Gio Ponti, among the most famous — Hermès, Cassina and most recently, Steinway & Sons — for which he designed a grand piano last year inspired by the production of the gondolas sailing around his island home as a child. Side note: He’s never played the piano. “I told Steinway & Sons, ‘It’s a lot like being a car designer, you never touch the engine,’” Nichetto. “They really liked that answer.”
He extends that sort of same nonchalance and confidence in his work with Ginori 1735, for which he designed the Domus home collection for Ginori with glassmaker Barovier&Toso and Rubelli fabrics — both fellow Venetian firms steeped in history. The latter famously made the soprarizzo velvet fabric that covered the inside of the carriages that transported the Italian royals of the 19th century.
“By collaborating with them, we have been able to express the same artisanal sensitivity, creating products that combine the DNA of three historic companies, expertly merged by the creative force of a renowned designer such as Luca Nichetto,” said Ginori 1735 brand and product director Annalisa Tani.
Nichetto laughs at the comparison, likening Ginori 1735’s venture into furniture to the bold foray high-end accessories-makers have made onto the red carpet haute couture scene over the last decade. A challenge, indeed.
“My idea regarding the Domus collection was ‘How can I translate that statement that they have long made in tableware into a home or furniture collection?’” he said during a conference call from his eclectically furnished “Pink Villa” studio. He lives with his wife and two small children just outside of Stockholm.
“I decided, let’s do a collection that can work together, pieces that complement and that elevate this perception of the space,” he added, noting that the process took about three years.
Ginori 1735’s foray into furnishings includes statement pieces like LaVenus lounge chair, the Dulcis armchair and pouf, the LaTour cabinet and the Optique coffee table. Rubelli provided jacquard fabrics with wanderlust names like Oriente Italiano, Sagitta, Saia and Ondori conjuring images of the silk trade and the Renaissance that contributed to Ginori 1735’s historic rise. Barovier&Toso collaborated for the Conterie floor lamp and Trinitas and Sideris table lamps. Nichetto worked to render the collection a reflection of modern life with convivial, work-at-home pieces that are meant to be functional, luxurious and versatile, all at the same time.
“Domus fully expresses the unfailing capacity for evolution of Ginori 1735, whose objective is to purse the exploration of worlds near and far, also by experimenting with new challenges, moved by a desire to dialogue constantly with new markets and new clients,” said Ginori 1735 chairman and chief executive officer Alain Prost.
Domus, Ginori 1735 said, represents the natural development of the maison’s focus, from tableware and giftware to the luxury lifestyle world, with products that have the potential to penetrate a new generation of consumers whose tastes and lifestyles are in constant evolution.
As he wrapped up the interview, Nichetto noted that the Ginori 1735 collaboration is unique because it was heavily influenced by a trinity of Venetian forces, noting that Rubelli and Barovier&Toso — like Ginori 1735 — have centuries of tradition resulting in a landmark collaboration. His own brand began in 1976, when he was born, he said.
“Me seeing an object become a decoration was like witnessing flour becoming a piece of bread. I was lucky enough to be surrounded by art from the start.”
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