Agricola

Gionata Gatto is an Italian designer and teacher working between Rotterdam and Dubai. His transdisciplinary expertise fuels collaborative projects with research institutions, galleries and design brands, often bridging design and the natural sciences.

Gatto’s Agricola series is a collection of lighting objects based on criteria of low CO2 emissions and using local resources. The lamps are produced from the waste by-products of fruit, vegetables and cereals, which are more typically converted to biofuels in the Netherlands. Gatto treated the fibres of agricultural waste with natural bonding agents such as latex, dammar gum and gamboge to produce a clean, long-lived and moldable material that is also biodegradable. Gatto’s lights don’t hide their origins; on the contrary, they make it visible in order to signify the value of undesirable material.