Incalmi: pairing materials to update tradition

Venice-based company Incalmi, founded in 2015 by Patrizia Mian, Gianluca Zanella, and Alessandra Zennaro, specializes in unusual material pairings such as copper-enamel, fabric-metal, and rattan-glass. The name derives from the Murano glass technique of innesto (grafting). Half of its turnover (around €2 million) comes from objects, half from lighting; 40% goes to contract and 50% to foreign markets. Incalmi works with a network of artisans, reviving endangered crafts. It recovered the technique of gran fuoco enamel on copper, mastered by Padua-born Paolo De Poli (collaborator of Gio Ponti), by buying a 1950s kiln and now operates three custom-built kilns. Since 2022, the company has institutionalized an annual collaboration with a designer for a capsule collection sold on major collectible design platforms: Zanellato/Bortotto (2022, enamels), Debonademeo (2023, glass), Federica Biasi (2024, rattan). In parallel, with artist Caterina Roppo, it metallized jacquard fabric for a work shown at Edit Cult 2024 in Naples, addressing violence against women. For 2025, Valentina Cameranesi applies her palette concept to Maniera, a modular cladding system of enameled copper tiles designed by Incalmi.