The urge to play with light: Davide Groppi’s way to enchant and move
Davide Groppi has long been synonymous with subtraction. In the new sculptural pieces unveiled at Euroluce, light becomes something to be touched, shaped, and directed – like Set, a versatile, combinable lighting system inspired by photographic equipment.
Saying “let there be light” doesn’t simply mean turning on a bulb. Light is the counterpart to darkness, yet far more than its absence. It shapes objects and reveals them to our gaze. Pervasive yet intangible, it resists easy definition – difficult to capture in a single formula. It is, at its core, poetry, play and magic. Who better than Davide Groppi to express this multifaceted vision of light? Simplicity, emotion, creativity, and wonder define each of the brand’s creations – born from a desire to give form to something meaningful.
Davide Groppi’s journey began in the late 1980s in a small workshop in the historic center of Piacenza, Italy, where he designed and built his first lamps. Naming the company after himself, his work has always been deeply rooted in family values: it was his father who first taught him the art of craftsmanship – lamps included. Since then, his passion for experimentation has never wavered. Although the workshop has expanded over time, it remains in Piacenza, where Groppi and his team continue to create lighting projects that are as unique as they are essential.
Since the beginning, Davide Groppi has drawn inspiration from art, ready-made objects, magic, craftsmanship, and the pure joy of playing with light. For him, light is more than illumination – it’s a means of enchantment, emotion, and storytelling. Each creation reflects a delicate balance between poetry and industry, function and beauty. This philosophy informs the brand’s latest collections, presented at Euroluce (April 8–13) and in their showroom on Via Manzoni in Milan. Conceived as silent presences, these new pieces are designed to blend effortlessly into any environment, bringing with them a discreet yet powerful elegance.
Set: Davide Groppi’s light speaks a cinematic language
In the 2025 collection, light emerges as a subtle yet decisive presence, capable of revealing forgotten corners and suggesting unexpected narratives. It does not merely illuminate; it gives shape to space, imbuing it with meaning and returning it to lived experience in all its complexity. With Set, inspired by the world of cinema, light becomes a language, transforming interiors into a stage where shadows and highlights are composed with the same precision and expressive freedom used to frame a shot.
Drawing direct inspiration from professional photography equipment, Set is not merely a lamp, but a compositional system. A base, a modular stem, and a sliding, adjustable spotlight offer infinite configurations, allowing light to be directed with a gesture – sculpting volumes, defining angles, and shifting perspectives.
Its accessories – diffusers, reflectors, filters, louvres, snoots – serve as instruments to shape the light itself, transitioning seamlessly from sharp, direct beams to soft, atmospheric glows. Every element is conceived for control and transformation, where the user becomes both technician and artist. A discreet invention ensures the consistent tension of the slender power cable, which is no longer merely functional: suspended like a drawn line in space, it becomes a visual trace, a graphic element that quietly integrates into the architecture of the room.
Light as a narrative force: shaping space and evoking emotion
Davide Groppi’s new lamp Set is the result of a continuous process of subtraction – a complex simplicity that distills light to its very essence. This is light that is never neutral: it shapes our thoughts, influences our actions. It is essential not only for illumination but also to seduce, to evoke mystery, to suggest metaphors, and to imagine new scenarios. For Groppi, light becomes a narrative force capable of transforming the perception of architecture – making it fluid, carving out voids, and drawing attention to gestures, expressions, and space.
Designing light means going beyond physical parameters. Only a thoughtful, multidisciplinary approach to lighting can truly transform built space into a meaningful sensory experience – one that meets technical standards while enhancing perceptual well-being, reinforcing a sense of place, and improving the quality of life for those who inhabit it.
