Giangi Razeto at the Blue Design Summit: a multifaceted artist, from yachting to sculpture

The Blue Design Summit is a major event dedicated to the design, planning, and construction of everything related to the world of water. An unmissable occasion for Razeto & Casareto, an Italian company specializing in the design of a wide range of customizable components and accessories for superyachts and cruise ships. The company took part in the 2025 edition of the event, held this past May in La Spezia. Specifically, designer Giangi Razeto spoke during the final panel of the Blue Design Summit, which focused on products and art forms that are part of the exclusive “superyacht way of life” experience. He shared his professional journey, straddling the worlds of design and sculpture.

The session, moderated by Chiara Modica Donà dalle Rose, featured the participation of several prominent brands, artists, and designers alongside Razeto. Architect Matteo Fraschini spoke about his work on the general setup of Euroflora 2025 in Genoa, a project recently selected to represent Italy in the Italy Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. “For Euroflora, we imagined a route that would help visitors find their way while also enhancing and rediscovering the renewed Levante waterfront – said Fraschini – We worked around a concept we called ‘Origami,’ with structures serving as landmarks that create a dialogue between land, sea, and sky”.

Luciano Massari, sculptor and director of Litix Spa—a company that blends art and technology by using robotics to work marble and create sculptures and other works of art and design—shared his experience on Easter Island and the inspiration that led him to develop his own poetic approach to form, deeply connected to water and light. Musician Elsa Guerci, on the other hand, spoke about the inspiration behind “88 Keys – a surrealist concert around Erik Satie”, one of the closing performances of the three-day event in La Spezia.

Finally, Giangi Razeto recounted the path that led him to become an established designer and creator of innovative solutions for an element that might seem simple and difficult to reinvent: onboard door handles. Giangi Razeto explained: “Specifically, I spoke about how, after graduating with a thesis in sociology on club cultures, I ended up designing handles for the nautical sector—bringing together the concepts that emerged from my sociological research: ‘Patchwork Generation’ (on cross-pollination in design) and ‘Tribes of Uniques Among Similar’ (on the sense of collective belonging while still asserting one’s uniqueness)”.

“I explained my functional approach to design,” continued Giangi Razeto, “and focused on the multifunctionality of the product. Handles, which have traditionally only served to open doors, must meet additional requirements on board to prevent them from becoming hazardous objects—for example, in rough seas, where people might lose their balance”. IWith this in mind, Razeto & Casareto developed the Soft Handle—flexible, elastic handles that bend but still allow doors to be opened.

“I also described my wireless systems for transmitting data and energy from the doorframe to the handle, which make it possible to illuminate handles and provide safety-related information in emergencies such as blackouts, fires, general alarms, or abandon-ship scenarios – said Razeto, highlighting another unique feature that sets Razeto & Casareto apart and has helped the company become a market leader – I then went into detail about the OSSH system for fire doors: when these doors close in the event of a fire, the handles light up green on the fire side and red on the opposite side, creating safe, preferential escape routes”.

Razeto concluded his talk by discussing the Free Go handles with interchangeable grips—one-of-a-kind items made for special clients, which led him to explore sculpture and embrace his role as a full-fledged artist. In fact, several of Razeto’s installation pieces were on display inside the theater that hosted the Blue Design Summit.