A furniture manufacturer that put the heel of the Italian boot on the world map of interior design: Natuzzi
What is Dolce & Gabbana for Sicily, Valentino or Fendi for Rome, Natuzzi for Puglia. The brand that has been providing free advertising for the southern Italian region for decades. It started as a small family business, and today it is one of the most famous sofa manufacturers in the world, the "king of sofas", which revolutionized an entire industry.
Pasquale Natuzzi was born in 1940 in Matera, a UNESCO-protected rock town in southern Italy, where Mel Gibson's Passion and the latest James Bond film were filmed. He was the second of seven children, his father worked as a carpenter and his mother ran a small grocery store. The family later moved to Taranto in Puglia, hoping that life would be easier in the larger port city, which had been quite difficult in southern Italy after World War II. At this time, the children also had to help the family, and little Pasquale did so both at the greengrocer's and in his father's carpentry workshop. At the age of 15, he took a job in a friend's upholstery workshop, where he fell in love with the profession for life. In 1959, he became independent and opened his own workshop, where he upholstered sofas and armchairs to order.
In 1962, he took the advice of one of his father's friends and moved back to his hometown, taking advantage of the shortage of craftsmen there. However, shortly after, the workers he brought with him returned to Taranto, and Pasquale could not find help there, so he gave up his craft and opened a furniture store instead. This business ran for five years, then Natuzzi returned to his old love and started making furniture again. The small company began to grow, but a short circuit caused the factory in Matera to burn down. He therefore transferred production to the town of Santeramo in Colle in the province of Bari. Since he had no capital and could not get a bank loan, he started working in a factory under construction, which did not even have windows or doors, so he had to sleep in the factory to prevent the products from being stolen. But at least after the fire, production was able to resume immediately, and a week later the first delivery was made. Today, this factory is still the headquarters of the Natuzzi group.
The American dream has arrived.
In the 80s, Natuzzi focused on the American market, and to this end, they entered into a partnership with one of the largest and most popular national department stores, Macy's. In 1981, a miracle happened: for the first time in the history of the American home furnishing market, a brand-new leather sofa was sold for just $999. Pasquale Natuzzi wanted to democratize the leather sofa genre, so that customers would not think of it as a luxury item that was only the privilege of the rich. The idea caught on, and within a few years, Natuzzi became one of the world's leading manufacturers. In 1993, Wall Street also took over, and the company was listed on the American stock exchange, which became a symbol of the Made in Italy trademark.
This marketing success also established his reputation at home, Pasquale became one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Italy, even being offered a position in the advertising sales management of the state television, the RAI group. In 1995 he received the Premio Leonardo - Italian Quality Award, which recognized the company's innovation, product quality and international success. The 90s made the entrepreneur the "king of sofas", a symbol of this was the company's new American headquarters in High Point, the ship-shaped headquarters symbolizing the conquest of America (in reference to the explorer, also Italian, Columbus).
Natuzzi created the southern Italian "sofa triangle"
The company's success inspired others, especially its employees, many of whom started their own businesses in the "sofa triangle" between the cities of Santeramo, Matera and Altamura. The numbers are impressive: there are currently around 300 companies producing furniture in the region, employing a total of 11,000 people and generating a total turnover of over 1,400 million euros. Over time, however, globalisation has challenged Natuzzi's competitive advantage, with Pasquale Natuzzi stating in a 2010 interview that the previously prosperous area could have disappeared due to lack of development and competition.
As a result, Natuzzi decided to focus on the internationalization of production, research and development, innovation and the protection of the Made in Italy trademark, so as not to have to compromise on price with countries employing cheap labor - an opinion he regularly voices on the subject. He is the holder of numerous awards, perhaps the most prestigious of which is his election to the American Furniture Hall of Fame as the first foreigner to be inducted, in recognition of his role in the development and growth of the American furniture industry. Natuzzi is today the largest Italian home furnishing company, with factories in China, Brazil and Romania outside the country, with a total of over 6,000 employees and an annual turnover of over 450 million euros. We can also see their latest innovations here, as they have a brand store in the MaxCity Shopping Center.
