Yanko Design’s new podcast, Design Mindset, is fast becoming a Friday ritual for design enthusiasts around the world. With a mission to uncover the principles and personalities that shape our built environment, the show doesn’t just scratch the surface. Each episode peels back the layers of the design process, revealing the values, dilemmas, and cultural forces that drive the world’s most influential designers. Whether you’re a student, practitioner, or simply a fan of thoughtful innovation, Design Mindset offers insight that goes beyond the glossy final product.
For its latest episode, the podcast welcomes Luca Nichetto, one of Italy’s most celebrated contemporary designers. Born on the glassmaking island of Murano and now leading Nichetto Studio between Venice and Stockholm, Luca has become synonymous with a rare blend of poetic craft and Scandinavian rigor. His work, ranging from traditional Murano glass to global furniture icons, has been exhibited and produced worldwide, but what truly sets him apart is his relentless focus on empathy. This conversation reveals how Nichetto’s roots, experiences, and worldview have shaped a philosophy that places people, not just objects, at the heart of design.
Empathy: The Invisible Force Shaping Meaningful Design
For Luca Nichetto, empathy isn’t a marketing buzzword or a step in the design-thinking playbook. It’s the “only secret ingredient” that brings meaning to objects and unites the many hands involved in making them. As he shares, “Empathy is not just nice to have in design, it’s everything. The only secret ingredient that you can put in the project that you are doing, and if there is also fun and there is a passion, you bring people together with you to be able to create something that makes sense.” His belief is that objects lacking empathy are reduced to mere function – beautiful perhaps, but ultimately empty.
Nichetto’s approach to empathy extends beyond the user to include every collaborator in the process. He sees every project as the formation of a small, temporary community – suppliers, artisans, clients, and the eventual users. “Every time that we are designing something, we are not only designing an object, we are also able to create a little community. Most important, we are also able to create jobs,” he explains, highlighting design’s social impact. For Nichetto, empathy is the glue that aligns everyone’s efforts, creating both purpose and pride in the finished product.
From Murano to the World: Lessons in Craft, Communication, and Adaptation
Growing up in Murano, Nichetto was immersed in a culture where craft is both tradition and innovation. His grandfather was a glassblower, his mother decorated glass, and Nichetto himself began selling drawings to local factories while still a teenager. This early exposure was less about the romance of glass and more about learning the “language” of making – the necessity of trust, the need for fast, clear communication, and the humility to listen to those shaping your ideas with their hands. “Being clear, quick, and considerate enables translating vision into craft without arrogance,” he says.
Murano also taught him about the speed and risk inherent in glasswork – where a missed moment can ruin hours of effort, and feedback is immediate. This environment forced Nichetto to develop a design process that’s both decisive and deeply respectful of the craftsperson’s expertise. These lessons, he notes, have stayed with him no matter the material, medium, or scale of the project. For Nichetto, design is always a dialogue – a process of constant negotiation between vision and reality, head and hands.
Bridging Two Worlds: When Italian Storytelling Meets Scandinavian Clarity
Nichetto’s journey eventually took him from the intimacy of Venetian craft to the structured world of Scandinavian design. After moving to Sweden about 15 years ago, he faced what he calls a “crisis of identity.” Initially, the homogeneity and efficiency of Scandinavian design felt at odds with his Italian roots. “Scandinavian design prioritizes function, sustainability, recyclability, and product lifecycle, leading to homogeneity,” he observes. However, rather than abandoning his heritage, Nichetto found new strength in embracing both traditions.
He now describes his practice as a fusion of “functional rigor and storytelling.” Objects, in his view, should be both useful and full of character. “Objects must be functional and have strong character (not merely form) to build relationships with users; otherwise, no reason to design ‘another chair,’” he argues. This synthesis allows him to create pieces that resonate emotionally while meeting the demands of modern life. He resists fleeting trends and globalized sameness, drawing instead on personal memories, client stories, and cultural references, even Japanese cartoons from his childhood, to give each project its own identity.
Navigating Cultures: Empathy as a Tool for International Collaboration
Operating studios in both Italy and Sweden and working with clients as far afield as China and the US, Nichetto has developed a keen awareness of how culture shapes design. Each context brings its own expectations and norms. In China, for instance, he encountered a kind of deference that led teams to follow his instructions too literally, leaving little room for creative initiative. “I was so frustrated of that. I was almost screaming, you know, why are you not trying?” he recalls. Over time, he realized this behavior was rooted in deep respect rather than passivity. “What I learned is you need to understand the culture you are working in, to adapt your communication and expectations accordingly,” Nichetto says.
In contrast, Italian collaborators often assert their own vision, requiring him to adopt a different approach – sometimes persuading, sometimes yielding, but always listening. For Nichetto, true empathy means adjusting not only your design but also your process and your leadership style to fit the people you’re working with. This flexibility is, he believes, a prerequisite for authentic design that honors both local craft and global collaboration.
From Decoration to Problem-Solving: Redefining the Value of Design
Nichetto is adamant that an object’s beauty is meaningless if it doesn’t address a real need. “Beautiful objects are useless if they don’t solve real human problems. Empathy means understanding actual needs beyond stated wants; honoring humans strengthens aesthetics,” he insists. For him, the designer’s job is not to create eye candy or win awards, but to improve lives in tangible ways.
He describes design as a mission – a way to inspire future generations and create a legacy of thoughtful, impactful work. “I prefer work that evokes love or hate (‘black and white’) over pleasing everyone. I seek long-term inspirational legacy over short-term awards or ego boosts,” Nichetto explains. This philosophy is evident in his refusal to chase trends or dilute his vision to appeal to everyone. Instead, he strives to create objects that will matter decades from now, not just look good in this year’s catalog.
Orchestrating Complexity: The Designer as Director and Problem-Solver
Nichetto likens the role of the designer to that of an orchestra conductor, balancing an array of sometimes competing interests – sales, warehousing, customer behavior, craft, packaging, and price. He’s not afraid to challenge a client’s brief if it misses the real problem, and he’s committed to nudging every project forward, even if progress is incremental. “Designer as orchestra director balancing sales, warehouse, customer behavior, craft, packaging, price. Identifies real problems versus client’s brief and pushes improvements, even ‘one millimeter’ forward,” he says.
This orchestration requires empathy not only for the end user but for everyone involved in the journey from idea to object. Nichetto frames even difficult negotiations and compromises as opportunities for learning and growth, advocating for solutions that serve both human needs and business realities. In his view, design’s true value lies in its ability to bridge gaps – between people, between cultures, and between the present and the future.
The Lasting Message: Make Things That Matter
As the episode wraps up, Nichetto distills his philosophy into a single, actionable takeaway: “Before you worry about how something looks, understand who will use it, how they’ll feel when they interact with it, and what problem is it actually solving in their life. That’s the difference between decoration and design.” It’s a call for designers to focus less on aesthetics and more on meaning; less on trends and more on lasting impact.
For those eager to follow his work, Nichetto points listeners to NiketoStudio.com and his Instagram, with a new studio website launching soon. His career stands as a reminder that great design is not just about making things pretty – it’s about making them matter, for everyone involved.
Design Mindset continues to deliver these in-depth, thoughtful conversations every Friday, only on Yanko Design. Whether you’re designing, commissioning, or simply appreciating, Nichetto’s story is proof that empathy is the secret ingredient the world needs most.
The post “Empathy is The Only Secret Ingredient”: Why Luca Nichetto Thinks Pretty Design Isn’t Enough first appeared on Yanko Design.