Nikolas Chachamis learned design from inside the factory

Some designers meet industry late; Nikolas Chachamis started inside it. In 1987, three years after his architecture degree from the Politecnico di Milano, the Greek-born designer took his first industrial-design job as an in-house designer at one of Italy's largest industrial groups — learning how products are actually engineered, costed and built before ever opening his own practice. The independent career came next, with Italian and international clients, exhibitions, fairs and international magazine coverage.

That factory-floor education shows in the Las Mobili collections he signs — Enosi and I-Meet — both kept on La Mercanti's roster for American executive floors and meeting rooms.