Nivo. Sustainable design with a heart. The creative journey of Guido Baratta.
From the historic streets of Rome to the skyscrapers of New York: the life of Guido Baratta (58) reads like a journey through the world of design. Yet the Italian designer found his home in Edam five years ago, where he started a new chapter.
In his modest studio, he combines his love for design with sustainability and local involvement. "Design should not only be beautiful and functional, but also have meaning," says Baratta. With a background in architecture, graphic design and digital design, he worked for big names such as BMW, Samsung and Adidas. But the urge to create tangible, sustainable objects eventually brought him to the Netherlands.
"Here in Edam I found the space to experiment and create in my own way." Guido Baratta grew up in Sicily, surrounded by architecture. "My parents were architects and design was omnipresent. From an early age, I was taught that good design is about simplicity and functionality. Movements such as Bauhaus and De Stijl had a great influence on my way of thinking." It was therefore obvious that he would study architecture at the Università di Roma La Sapienza. He exchanged Sicily for Rome and immersed himself in the academic world. But when he graduated in the nineties, a harsh reality awaited him. "At the time, there were 15,000 unemployed architects in Italy. At the same time, the country was in a period of social and political unrest. The government wanted to privatize the universities, which led to fierce student protests. We occupied the university, took action, but at a certain point I had to ask myself the question: what now? What am I going to do?" Baratta was faced with an important choice: return to the family business or take a completely new direction. "When you are young, you don't want to work with your parents right away. You want to choose your own path." By chance, he ended up in the world of theater sets, where he started working for a friend. "It was a fantastic adventure. We traveled to Sydney, Paris, all corners of the world. But financially it was not sustainable. I had hardly any money left.” In search of more stability, he came across a vacancy for an unpaid internship as a graphic designer at a small agency in Rome. “I had no experience, but decided to just give it a try. To my surprise, I got the job. They gave me stacks of manuals and said: ‘Learn this, and when you master it, you will get paid.’ So I taught myself the digital tools.” Still, he felt that he had to grow further. He exchanged Rome for Paris and went to study at the École des Beaux-Arts. There, in the heart of the design world, he spent four years, working and learning, and laid the foundation for his later career.
Leaps into the unknown.
Baratta’s career took an unexpected turn when he returned to Italy to be with his ailing father. “I took the first job I could find and started at McCann, a large advertising agency.” There he met his mentor, German designer Frank Stahlberg, who would play a crucial role in his further development. Through McCann he was given the opportunity to do an internship in New York. “Miraculously, my father’s health stabilized, which allowed me to take the step.” New York turned out to be a world full of new opportunities. “When I arrived, I barely spoke English. I had learned French at school, so I had to fully immerse myself in the language and culture.” Despite the language barrier, he had the opportunity to meet influential names such as Massimo Vignelli and Stefan Sagmeister. At that point, Baratta faced an important choice: specialize in print and identity design, or make the switch to digital design, which was still in its infancy at the time. "It felt like a leap into the unknown, but I decided to go for it." That decision brought him to Isobar, a leading agency where he worked on projects for major brands such as Nokia, Adidas and Ford. He later rose to Creative Director at TripAdvisor, where he became responsible for the platform's digital products.
Baratta had success in New York, but he felt the urge to develop himself further. "Everyone said: if you really want to grow in the tech world, you have to go to the West Coast." He got a chance at Samsung in Seattle. "I chose Seattle instead of Silicon Valley, because I love nature, mountains and snow. I set up their first internal UX team at Samsung and worked with a fantastic team." Yet something started to gnaw. "At large companies, you are a small link in a gigantic machine. And something else struck me: the inequality in America was becoming increasingly dire. In Seattle, I saw thousands of people living on the streets every day, while I myself was in a comfortable tech bubble." His wife worked at Facebook at the time, and they both felt it was time for a change.
A friend asked him if he wanted to help set up a design studio in Amsterdam. "At first I thought: why would I move to the Netherlands? But after visiting the city I was sold. Not only because of the atmosphere and the people, but also because the social system felt so much fairer here." He moved to Amsterdam with his wife, but it was Edam that really felt like home. "We immediately fell in love with the charm of the town. Small-scale, warm and with a close-knit community." Just before the pandemic, they bought a house and started a new chapter. In the Netherlands, Baratta worked as Chief Design Officer for a German company that designed car interiors. There he played a key role in the development of digital interfaces, including the iconic round screens in the latest Mini Coopers and BMW's infotainment systems. “It was fascinating to work at the intersection of physical and digital design. We experimented with materials, textures and colours to seamlessly connect the screens to the driver's experience.”
Yet he increasingly realised that his heart lay in tangible, sustainable designs. That urge for something unique eventually brought him to Edam, where he set up his own design studio with a focus on circular design. “I work with sustainable materials such as coffee grounds, rice husks, glass and shells from the Markermeer. I also experiment with recycling PET bottles and make my own filaments.” With this innovative approach, he combines his technological background with a forward-looking, environmentally conscious vision.
Giving it all back.
For Baratta, design is more than just styling; it’s a way to create connection. His designs are all unique and tailored to the person who buys them. “No mass production, no standard models. Every object is made here, in my modest studio.” But his philosophy goes beyond the design itself. “If a local wants a lamp or a vase here, they can decide for themselves what they want to pay for it. I’m not interested in profit, but in building a community.” For Baratta, this is his way of giving back to the place where he and his wife were so warmly welcomed. “Edam gave us a home, a place where our son can be raised. This is my way of appreciating that and contributing something tangible.”
In addition to his design work, Baratta is actively involved in social projects. When the war in Ukraine broke out, he felt the urgent need to help. He founded Designer United for Ukraine, a platform that connected Ukrainian designers with employment. "What started as a simple idea grew into a large network. More than a thousand people found a job through us. Eventually, the project became so big that I had to transfer it to an established foundation." But his involvement was not limited to the digital. "Sometimes I just paid a driver to pick up people from Ukraine and bring them to safety." His help went even further than that: "At the company where I worked at the time, I was able to offer a job to three Ukrainian refugees, whom I had helped to flee the country.
That is perhaps the most valuable thing I have ever done." With a career that stretches from Rome to New York and from Sydney to Edam, Guido Baratta has reinvented himself time and again. A quest for form and function grew into a design philosophy that focuses on human connection and sustainability. "Design is not just a matter of aesthetics or technology, but must also contribute to the world around us." In Edam he has found a place where he can combine his creative freedom with social involvement. Here, in his small studio on the Jan Nieuwenhuizenplein, he proves that innovation is not about scale, but about impact. "Whether it is a unique object or a gesture of help, everything you make or do must contribute to something."