Davide Groppi ‘writes with light’ and sets a church-turned-gallery aglow in Italy

Davide Groppi‘writes with light’, claims Marco Sammicheli, the curator of a new exhibition by the lighting designer and entrepreneur, at Volumnia, a church-turned-gallery in Piacenza.

‘Un’ora di Luce’ (One Hour of Light, on view until 26 May 2026) reveals stories and a number of curiosities about Groppi’s roots and methods. In the documentary projected on a wall, he declares himself a country boy – he grew up, works and still resides in Piacenza, a small city located an hour from Milan in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.

Davide Groppi: a language of light

‘I like to work with the purity of light,’ says Groppi. This concept and his interest in art and the cosmos is reflected in the first of the exhibition’s five sections, each presented as a utopia.

We travel like navigators into the world of ‘Notte Africana’, while with ‘Quasi Luce’, Groppi plays with contrasts of pink and blue: they shouldn’t work together, but Groppi and his lights perform magic. ‘Questa non è una Lampadina’ celebrates the simple functionality of traditional lightbulbs, and ‘Il Grande Blu’ is a sea of emotion you could almost drown in. ‘Le Foglie e il Vento’, meanwhile, was a challenge he set himself: to construct something light and luminous; the result is a pentagram, layered by a designer who has mastered the art of simplicity.

‘Umasi’, a new lamp that can be raised and lowered vertically, is defined by an elegant aesthetic language. ‘I wanted to create a light with a lampshade that was new, not like the typical form,’ he explains. ‘One that I could have next to me while I’m sitting in an armchair,’ he explains.

The new shade is made out of paper and takes inspiration from Japanese lamps: there are three separate sheets that almost meet to form a baseless trigonal prism. Groppi admits to being obsessed with paper, one of several fixations, and he used the same material for his ethereal ‘Moon’ light (the piece makes a dramatic first impression at the threshold of the deconsecrated church). The functionality of ‘Umasi’ is deliberate: ’It was important to ensure that it can be as useful as possible,’ Groppi says.

On top of a Gio Ponti sideboard sits a new limited-edition lamp called ‘Vera’ (meaning ‘real’). Made from glass, the wide mouth narrows, funnelling down onto an amaranth-coloured cylindrical base. Despite the name, it plays on the idea of illusions; a holographic lightbulb effect is triggered when the lamp is switched on. It isn’t real. ‘It’s not solely a light, but a decorative piece,’ Groppi explains.

Towards the end of the exhibition, ‘TaO’ lights are anchored from the building's lateral columns, forming a wide V shape and highlighting items including Carlo Scarpa’s mirror for Venini on a central table.

Volumnia owner Enrica De Micheli’s midcentury furniture appears throughout, complemented by Groppi’s own work. The heart-shaped ‘Rail’ light is affixed onto a rear wall, while floor lamps (like the sleek ‘Mia’) sit beside two Gio Ponti and Emilio Lancia chairs for Domus Nova. ‘One Hour of Light’ is a monographic exhibition that demonstrates that Groppi not only writes but also paints with light. This presentation of almost four decades of work at Volumnia is truly illuminating.

‘Un’ora di Luce’ is on view until 26 May 2026, Volumnia, Stradone Farnese, 33, 29121 Piacenza, Italy