Synonymous with superior quality, luxury, and tradition the Natuzzi brand is the first and only line of leather furnishings completely designed and developed in Italy. The world-renowned brand was born when at the young age of 19 Pasquale Natuzzi, the son of cabinet-maker, opened a small workshop in Italy, where he began producing furniture for the local market. Over 50 years later, Natuzzi is Italy’s largest furniture house and continues to grow and evolve with the times. As a global company with more than 1,200 points of sale worldwide, the company has come a long way from its humble beginnings. The brand brings its rich history, passion for the arts, and commitment to sustainability into Miami’s innovative Design District. At the age of 26, Pasquale Jr. Natuzzi has embraced the privilege and responsibility that comes with this role as the heir to Natuzzi but also the company’s Communication and Creative Director. As a child, he had the opportunity to live and breathe this business, learning everything from his father from online marketing (with help from firms like https://victoriousseo.com/markets/small-business-seo/) to design and creation of products, and now fills this role with a firm understanding of the companies past as he looks to the future. With the hope to not only continue his family’s legacy but expand on it.
At the age of 26, you have a huge role within the company as both Communication and Creative Director. How do you hope to portray Natuzzi’s vision, mission, and products to a new generation of luxury consumers?
Everything we are, our vision, our values are always present in every product we produce. We live in a time full of changes also in the lifestyle of people and the way they experience space. The homes evolve and the rooms are becoming smaller and smaller. In our vision, the future of furniture relies on the development of products where design and function meet and where objects can live in harmony with the people using them. When I say function I mean the intent of things, products which do not only fulfill the purpose they have been created for but products which interact with the users and can adapt to their needs. This is the essence of Natuzzi’s DNA, the story we tell to our customers and the one we communicate through our marketing and media strategy. We work on the constant development of a story centered on the experience in order to create a long-lasting relation with the consumer.
What drives and inspires the brand?
Every new creative project begins with an aesthetic idea, born from the special feeling between our job and our land, Apulia: colors, climate, and the Mediterranean sea are our sources of inspiration, together with the multicultural contaminations that a global company like Natuzzi, where people from different cultures and traditions work together, experience every day. Puglia is our muse and our home: the warmth of the fireplace in the old farmhouses, the magnificent castles, the elegance of the Romanesque cathedrals and the changing light in the white towns are pictures of our land, an ideal backdrop for our products.
The brands connection with the art industry through the Natuzzi Open Art concept is truly unique. How do you see this concept developing in the future?
Natuzzi started the Open Art project in 2007 with the goal of making art more accessible to everyone by collaborating with contemporary artists having the most diverse background. The new course aims to both open Natuzzi stores to a younger and avant-garde kind of contemporary art and to push further the hybridization between art and Natuzzi. We are commissioning site-specific projects that can become part of the settings of our stores, and by doing so building a collection that will help us to open our spaces to contamination.
Natuzzi made quite the impression during Miami Art Week between the grand opening go the Design District location, the Open Art Installations as well as being featured in the Pérez Art Museum. How do you think the city received the brand? Also, will this location continue to participate in Miami Art Week in the future?
Miami is a truly modern city in which design and art can be felt at every corner: it was the best place to start this new chapter of Natuzzi Open Art. Last December we unveiled Missika’s installation in our flagship store in the Design District during the Miami Art Week: the perfect combination to gather creatives, artists, and design and art enthusiasts during an event of global impact. Now we’re working on new Natuzzi Open Art project that will happen in Miami on next December during Art Basel.
What steps are taken to create a piece so that it meets the brand’s standards for craftsmanship and quality?
The key is to keep the production all in-house, we have a direct supervision throughout all the 135 phases of the manufacturing process: from the tanning of the leather to the productions of frameworks and the paddings, from the leather craft to the stitching, from the assembly process to the packaging of the products. Mass production tends to make all products look the same; the only way to safeguard the Natuzzi Style and offer one-of-a-kind products to our customers is to keep using the extraordinary expertise we acquired in 55 years of activity right where it was first born. We have the best artisans in the world with incredible manual skills and creativity. However, this was not enough; we wanted to ensure the highest quality so we modernized the entire production process, all our materials undergo more than 210 different quality test. Our system was so rigorous that has earned our company two international certifications: the ISO 9001 ad ISO 14001.
The brand’s numerous products span across two different lines, do you have a favorite piece and if so why?
The Natuzzi Italia product line represents our never-ending quest for beauty, a harmonious combination of shapes, colors and exquisite materials. It offers a large selection of night and day furniture and accessories, a captivating Total Home philosophy concept crafted entirely in Italy. Natuzzi Editions offers a wide range of sofas and armchairs. It expresses two of the key strengths of Natuzzi products: the incomparable expertise for leather and the extraordinary ability to design and produce unique pieces of furniture. My favorite product is without any doubt the Re-vive recliner chair, Natuzzi’s iconic product thanks to its ability to blend design and function, a one-of-a-kind chair that has no match in the furniture sector. Indeed, Revive is the world first performance recliner that moves accordingly to the body movements without the use levers or buttons, allowing its occupant to find their ideal position at every moment.
L’Etage: How does Natuzzi incorporate social responsibility and sustainability into its production?
Our low-impact philosophy is a direct consequence of the landscape our factory is located in. We are surrounded by fields and hills and we have a deep respect for such a natural beauty. It has been one of Natuzzi’s aim to preserve it, consequently, our factory does not have a single chimney. We are 100% environmental friendly and it is common practice for us to recycle energy and wastes. In addition, our production is Made inItaly: we respect at full the work policies and we believe that happy workers make the best of products.
L’Etage: What is your vision for the continued growth your Father’s legacy?
In 1959, at the age of 19, my father decided to start his own business, giving birth to his first workshop for the production of sofas and armchairs. 57 years of history represent a priceless heritage. My vision is to keep preserving this heritage while continuing the expansion of our brand worldwide. We are reinforcing our international retail chain as well as the brand awareness: we began the New Year with the strategic opening of a new mono-brand store in Jordan. We are planning new openings in areas with a large growth potential, Asia, and China in particular, where we keep investing despite the economic slowdown, but also in North America and in some European countries.
PJ