MILAN — Venetian designer Luca Nichetto made it official with Barovier&Toso. On Wednesday, the firm said that Nichetto, who has been collaborating with the eight-centuries old Venetian glass maker since 2022, is now its artistic director.
Though the company was originally founded in 1295 by Jacobello Barovier, in 1455 his descendant Angelo Barovier was granted the exclusive right to produce “Cristallo Veneziano” (Venetian Crystal). Cristallo Veneziano is unlike any other on the market because it is void of lead and arsenic. The Barovier business operated independently until 1936, when it merged with the Toso glassmaking firm.
Nichetto’s first design for Barovier&Toso was the Vallonné suspension lamp.
Barovier&Toso booth, designed by Luca Nichetto, at Euroluce 2025.
Nichetto’s 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 the Venetian island of Murano, Nichetto was practically raised around the kiln — his grandfather made Venetian glass chandeliers and his mother was a 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.
Over the years, he has collaborated with vanguard names like Hermès and Cassina. In 2022, the designer teamed up with Steinway & Sons — for which he designed a grand piano inspired by the production of the gondolas sailing around his island home as a child. In 2023, he teamed up with Ginori 1735 for the firm’s first pieces of furnishings and statement pieces — coffee tables, lamps, chairs, poufs and accessories.
In an interview with WWD, Nichetto said that art direction means “getting under the skin” of a brand. “After many years of this, I have come to the conclusion that doing art direction means going deep not wide. Whether it means honoring a rich history or helping define a new one… Then step by step you can build a real identity that doesn’t feel borrowed or recycled,” he said.
In 2023, Nichetto designed Barovier&Toso’s Venice boutique on Calle Larga XXII Marzo, a space located just steps away from St. Mark’s Square. He founded Nichetto Studio, which specializes in industrial design, product design and consultancy, in 2006.
Barovier&Toso’s flagship designed by Nichetto Studio.
Photo by Max Rommel
Under Nichetto’s guidance, Barovier&Toso said in a statement that it will shape a “new identity” referring to its showcase at the biennial of light, Euroluce 2025, where Nichetto propelled them into a more contemporary narrative.
“We are convinced that an art direction project on the brand and product, entrusted to a professional of Luca Nichetto’s caliber, can represent an important strategic lever for the future development of Barovier&Toso,” said the firm’s chief executive officer Andrea Signoroni. Signoroni, who had most recently served as the operations director of Dolce&Gabbana Casa and operations director of luxury Italian furniture-maker Cassina before that, was hired in 2024 to facilitate a new chapter of internationalization. He was the company’s first chief executive officer in its history.
Barovier&Toso, whose elaborate chandeliers have adorned the homes of royal residences such as King Saud’s palace in Taif, Saudi Arabia, said it’s adapting with the times and is invested in strategies that bolster its storytelling through digital channels, which have become more and more crucial to its business.
In 2023, the firm doubled its pre-COVID-19 sales. The firm saw revenues rise 19 percent from 2022, to 19.2 million euros, due to a shift in corporate strategy.
