If you’re torn between vacationing in the Italian countryside and remodeling your kitchen, now you don’t have to choose. NOLI is Findlay Market’s newest vendor — and they aren't selling food. This custom design and installation company uses prestige Italian brands to turn your dream of a "Modern Italian Kitchen" into a reality.
NOLI sources their products from Maistri, a partner brand nestled in the countryside of Verona, Italy, where crisp edges, neutral palettes and minimalist functionality are their holy trinity. The company began in 1946 as a small, family-run carpenter's shop. NOLI’s shop owner, Agostino Fede, has been familiar with Maistri’s work for the past three and a half decades — his mother and aunt have curated Italian kitchens from the brand.
Though he initially migrated to Cincinnati for a job offer, the idea for NOLI came up as Fede was remodeling the kitchen in his OTR condo and he took great interest in the process.
By trade, he’s a biochemist, but upon his retirement from pharmaceuticals, Fede found uncanny similarities between the workflow in the lab and in the kitchen as he began writing his second act. This included enrolling in visual design classes and attending design and furniture fairs, where he fell in love with the products and the nature of the work.
After chiseling down a list of kitchen vendors from 110 to 25 to just a handful, Maistri came out on top. Fede was intrigued by Maistri’s “history, authenticity and territory,” and decided to seek out his passions by pioneering Italian kitchen design right here in the Queen City.
“I’m trying to create an entire experience for the customer,” Fede says. The process is more than simply coming to the shop with a plan and picking out cabinet swatches. These kitchens are curated to match how you live, cook and entertain by blending design with functionality and technology, like built-in induction plates and wireless chargers.
But kitchen design isn’t NOLI's only offering. For those looking for VIP treatment, NOLI has a handful of chefs in their arsenal who can christen a newly finished kitchen with a demonstration of the appliances and devices or even help throw a dolce vita party. It is services like these that separate NOLI from the cabs and apps department at Home Depot.
Fede explained his transition from big pharm to kitchen design by offering a comparison: Kitchens and labs aren’t that different from each other after all. An experiment is prepared just as the ingredients of a recipe are. You cook the food and run the experiment; plate the food and prepare the test results; and wash up at the end. “A kitchen is nothing else but a lab. And a lab is nothing but a kitchen,” Fede says.
From an analytical perspective and a culinary one, Fede brings sleek, functional design and a curated experience to the table with a dose of Italian flare.
NOLI Modern Italian Kitchen is located at 100 W. Elder St., Over-the-Rhine. More info: facebook.com/nolimodern.