Italian designer Luca Nichetto has created a lamp for Scandinavian design brand Hem, which comprises colourful shades that stack in customisable combinations.

The spun-steel shades of Nichetto’s Alphabeta lamp are used in pairs to direct light up and down from the source. Each of the shades can be selected by the customer online in any combination of shapes and colours.

“Alphabeta is the world’s first digitally customisable pendant lamp with more than 10 billion possible combinations, all in-stock, and shipped free to Hem customers,” said a statement from the brand.

The shades come in eight different shapes of interchangeable top and bottom shades, available in a range of hues, as well as in black and in white.

This creates a total of 24 available shades, which allow for a vast number of possible combinations when displayed in groups – like letters in the alphabet.

“My inspiration was really an ambition to create an alphabet; a system where you can combine different kinds of shades to create your own lamps,” said Nichetto, who launched his eponymous design brand earlier this year.

“I researched different kinds of shades and effects of light, and tried to simplify that by creating a single piece that can be combined with the other shades, to create a kind of alphabet,” he added.

The different shapes include cones, bowls and tubes, all available in a variety of lengths and widths.

“With Alphabeta, we wanted to create a lamp that is made from high quality materials, and allows people to customise and personalise their own lighting,” said Petrus Palmér, Hem co-founder and head of design.

“Luca Nichetto has a great eye for spotting new behaviours and new needs, and he brought us this idea of a lamp that could be combined in different ways to create your own and unique lamp.”

The lamps will displayed in an exhibition titled Ten Designers in the West Wing, taking place at Somerset House from 21 to 27 September during the London Design Festival 2015. Here, 44 of the pendants will be tethered to a grand piano and will illuminate when different keys are played.