GIULIA BERNARDI • 22.05.2018
About the origins
and what’s new
For well over a year Cesare Bizzotto and Tobias Nitsche have been designing innovative lights under the name FROM LIGHTING , whose styling is different from conventional typologies. The design duo not only highlights the end-product, but also the process of its creation, which nowadays often disappears from our view.
The two designers are standing in front of a grey-white wall. Tobias on the one side, Cesare to his right. Their slightly over-illuminated silhouettes stand out from the light background because they are mainly wearing black. There is bare earth and green plants at their feet. The beautiful aspect of this portrait: The contrasting elements merge into a harmonious ensemble. The warm brown of the earth with the cool grey of the wall, the delicate plants with the roughly laid cable and the industrial lighting on the ceiling. The simple and yet targeted pictorial language is also reflected in the creative work of the designers.
Cesare Bizzotto (*1989) and Tobias Nitsche (*1986) got to know each other while they were studying at the University of Art and Design Lausanne (ECAL). «I spent hours sitting at my desk fiddling around, looking for the one brilliant idea», remembers Tobias and laughs. «Cesare on the other hand is very quick to implement something and already gets to know a lot of people during the design process.» One thing was therefore certain for both of them: Their different approaches would complement each other well. Directly after completing their studies in 2013, the young designers designed the ‹Home Office› collection together with Manuel Amaral Netto (*1983), whom they had also met during their time at ECAL, which was exhibited at the Salone Satellite in Milan the following year. As well as a table and two chairs, the ‹Volta› light was also part of the collection, for which they won the Salone Satellite Award and were promised the support of the Ikea Foundation. ‹Volta› is pipe-shaped light fitted with LEDs, which hangs from the ceiling in two loops. Depending on requirements, the piping can be turned so that for example the workspace is illuminated directly or indirectly. This is possible thanks to the use of LEDs: With electrical voltage of only 24 Volt, the light can be touched without any problems – even without any insulation.
Through this project it became apparent to Cesare and Tobias that there is a lot to discover in the field of lighting. This was what made them decide to establish the FROM LIGHTING label. «In our work we try to knock conventional typologies on the head and test out the opportunities offered to us by LEDs», says Tobias. One example for this is the ‹Aspect› table lamp, which consists of three interlinked steel tubes. Thanks to LEDs, this lamp was able to be designed much more delicately than would have been possible with conventional lighting.
Bizzotto and Nitsche each have a different approach to their designs. «We always start somewhere different. Sometimes the shape is our starting point, sometimes it’s the material, sometimes the technical opportunities», says Tobias. «It’s important to us that an object is something completely new.» The lights are manufactured in Padova near Venice. «There are lots of businesses here, which are very accessible and understand design really well, which is partly explained by the large number of furniture manufacturers in the surrounding area.»
The designers believe it is very important to show users how the lights are made. «Previously one knew that shoes came from the cobbler and one could see what material they were made of», says Tobias. «Nowadays lots of products are manufactured with high-tech materials and produced somewhere in China.» In order to recreate the connection between people and objects, the designer duo has brought out the publication called ‹Origins›, which documents how its products are manufactured.
This is how Tobias and Cesare come to be standing in front of the grey-white wall; with the old neon light in the background, which flickers a few times when it is switched on. The two designers with their ideas are in the foreground, which sprout from the earth like green plants.
Fotografie: From Lighting, Daniel Delang