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Daniele Klausas, Tobias Nitsche, Cesare Bizzotto (f.l.t.r.)

YOUNG TALENTS
Passion for light

They go by the name From Industrial Design: Cesare Bizzotto and Tobias Nitsche focus on the industrial design process involved in furniture and luminaires. Under the label From Lighting the latter are proving hugely successful at finding their way onto the wider market at present.
by Linda Pezzei | 12/12/2022

It all began with an artistic outing the two made to Vista Alegre porcelain factory in Portugal which resulted in a first collection of objects that Cesare Bizzotto and Tobias Nitsche subsequently exhibited 2014 at Salone Satellite under the name From Industrial Design. The “Volta” luminaire based on a principle that was extremely innovative at the time and promptly won the young designers the first prize at the event. “The start of a creative journey that is still ongoing,” as Cesare and Tobias themselves say.

"Times"
"Abyss Table"

In the beginning From Industrial Design developed objects for a number of different manufacturers before focusing on establishing their own brand – From Lighting. “We were fascinated by the idea of founding our own company because this makes it possible to go beyond the actual product and uncompromisingly create a miniature universe consisting of people and forms of expression that mutually complement each other. Many of the people involved in this project – graphic designers, typographers, photographs, illustrators – are young specialists from Europe who offer interpretations of what is contemporary in their respective fields but do so with a language and a vision for the future that we share,” say the designers to cite one reason for their decision.

Another reason for starting From Lighting lies in their passion for light as a material together with the endless opportunities – some of them still unexplored – that the emergence of LED technology has brought with it: “We have always had a strong interest in designing simple objects but simultaneously we enjoy the challenge of technical complexity which we conceal from users by instead letting them physically interact with our luminaires.” In this context, collaboration with artisans from different areas also plays a major role for From Industrial Design: “We can only learn from such cooperation.” Which is why the network and circle of friends around the design duo continues to grow constantly. The two designers explain how their business is becoming increasingly professional as “we now produce our luminaires in larger batches by having individual components made in the region and we then assemble them in-house ourselves.” While the focus was on metal for the luminaires of the current collection, From Industrial Design are now working on new objects of glass that they intend to present at the Euroluce.

"Piazza"
Foto: From Lighting "ABY 02"

Three forward-looking thoughts:

“We want to launch two new products, two strong concepts that will significantly enhance our current portfolio and make a perfect match for our design-oriented approach. We plan to present these two novelties at Euroluce 2023.”

“We want to continue to grow our brand worldwide and find the right partner in every country to help us do so. To date, we have developed largely in Northern Europe, Germany and North America where we have found great supporters who are a perfect fit for our brand. Naturally, we will continue down this road.”

“We plan to further structure our operations. Currently we produce all our components via a close network of wonderful suppliers in the vicinity and then assemble our luminaires in-house. We are making substantial investments in order to ensure a swift and well-organized purchasing process, a lean warehouse and a thorough quality control for every luminaire assembled in house.”

"ABY 03"
"Aspect"

Three questions for From Industrial Design

What is your background?

From Industrial Design: Cesare comes from Italy, grew up in Padua, studied Industrial Design at the IUAV in Venice, and starting in 2011 signed up for the Master’s program at the ECAL in Lausanne, Switzerland. There he met Tobias from Germany who had just graduated in Industrial Design at the University of Munich. Then a few years ago Daniele, also from Padua, joined the team as a partner. He strengthens the team with his business background and previously worked for many years in Milan as a manager in a large company. We are a team of founders and friends, all in our thirties with a very broad and complementary range of skills and backgrounds. Now we have all put down roots in Padua to face the new challenges together full of energy and enthusiasm.

What is the most frustrating thing about your job and what is the most inspiring?

From Industrial Design: Well to be honest the first two or three years after completing our studies were definitely the most frustrating. Back then we thought it wouldn’t take so long before we could live off the royalties from furniture design. But then we opted for a different path. What drives us most now is our joint work as a team every day.

What product do you really want to realize in the future and why?

From Industrial Design: That’s a difficult question. Naturally we have sketchbooks full of potential ideas that could be developed into actual products. Some of them are already being realized while others will never make it even to a mockup. Over the course of the years while building up our own brand From Lighting we learned a lot about the manufacture of objects. Now we have this wealth of experience we are ready to act as designers for other manufacturers again. However, we will above all always ask ourselves about the relevance of each and every idea we develop. Times are getting more and more complicated and we are aware of our responsibility as industrial designers.

"ABY 03"
"ABY 06"