Luca Nichetto Launches Nichecraft, Creative Design Online Shop

MILAN — There’s a new place for the design-curious to access Luca Nichetto‘s unique products, though supply will be fleeting.

On Monday, the Venetian designer unveiled a new platform called Nichecraft which includes an e-commerce shop he describes as a “container of creativity” that allows him to do whatever he and his team so desire. “I really like the idea of design being serious fun. It really allows us to do design at 360 degrees,” he explained on the platform’s Instagram page.

The first capsule is a watch made with niche watchmaker Unimatic, inspired by Nichetto’s childhood on the glass art-making island of Murano, “where colors marked the passage of time.” The watch, named Four, is a Made in Italy, automatic all-round timepiece priced at $1,650. The model is limited edition and there are only 30 pieces available, 15 of which will be sold on the platform and 15 sold by Unimatic. Unimatic is a Milan-based brand that has collaborated with MoMA, NASA, Spongebob and more. The cult premium watch brand was established in 2015 by Giovanni Moro and Simone Nunziato.

Within the shop are two types of editions: The Signature Collection of the studio’s creations and the Capsule Collection, which is an array of products developed in collaboration with select partners and which will be available in numbered limited-edition quantities.

Elsewhere, the shop sells Nichecraft-branded items including a deck of cards, a pair of dice and a decorative cube.

Throughout the design world, in-house e-commerce platforms that amplify designers’ creative capabilities are on the uptick.

In 2023, Basel, Switzerland-based Herzog & de Meuron launched their e-commerce shop called H&dM offering objects of furniture, lighting, accessories and books. French interior and architecture firm Gilles & Boissier also has their own shop.

Nichetto, who started his own studio in 2006, said Nichecraft has been in the making for three years, but he has been ruminating about it for 10. A former semi-pro basketball player, Nichetto traded the court for university, where he studied industrial design. Nichetto’s ethos has evolved over time, but his creative vision and fate were sealed almost from birth. Nichetto was practically raised around the kiln — his grandfather made Venetian glass chandeliers and his mother was a glass decorator.

Over the years he has collaborated with names like Hermès and Cassina. In 2022, the designer teamed 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. He is also the artistic director of eight-centuries-old Venetian glassmaker Barovier & Toso and is the designer for Ginori 1735‘s Domus collection of home decor, lighting and furniture.