Being a son of a founder of the biggest Italian furniture house Natuzzi, Pasquale Junior Natuzzi is faced with obstacles and challenges every day of his life. His official appointment as the Natuzzi’s Communication Director as well as Deputy Creative Director has contributed to the continuous growth of the Italian Interior Design powerhouse with over 1,200 points of sale and 12 commercial offices worldwide. We’ve always been avid fans of Italian design, so it was a no-brainer when we were given an opportunity to pick this young man’s brain about a thing or two.

Natuzzi Group was founded in 1959, and today it is still one of the leading interior design houses. What is your secret for success?

There isn’t a single secret but rather a complex variety of factors. On one hand passion is the thing that drives it all: passion for what we do, passion for our job, passion to find the right proposals for our customers. The other factor which plays a crucial role is family. Natuzzi is a family business, it is my father’s fifth child, therefore we tend to create strong links with all our collaborators giving the word “family” quite a broad meaning.

Your products are designed and made in Italy, in Puglia, would you say it is an advantage for the brand?

There’s a unique attraction between Natuzzi and Puglia. A bond that has always united the company and our region. Puglia is our muse and our home; we draw our strength, vitality and creativity from it. Cultural cross-fertilisation is an integral part of Puglia’s history and I like to think that this mingling of energies is another source of inspiration for us. All these characteristics reflects in the product. And analysing the success of the brand I would say it is an advantage.

What is the Natuzzi product that is a “must have”?

Although Natuzzi offers a wide range of products that meet the needs of different audiences in different countries, I believe that our Re-vive recliner chair symbolises perfectly what Natuzzi is and what it will be in the future. It is an amazing project: the first ever armchair which adapts completely to the body’s movements. It is the epitome of our philosophy: Natuzzi blends design, functions, materials and colours to create harmonious living.

Having had significant presence in Dubai for a while, would you say there are differences between the Middle Eastern and the Western customer?

Each customer has its own specific tastes, which are surely related to culture as well as to the way of living the house and its spaces. Dubai is a very cosmopolitan city, which gives us the chance to relate not only to native but also to many different cultures and nationalities. Being a global company, we have always tried to give our customer a wide variety of choices, so to adapt to the most diverse needs.

Has the globalisation phenomena affected your business? If so, in what ways?

Natuzzi has always been a global company, even before globalisation. What we have achieved through technology, above all in the communication field, is the speed with which we can communicate with each other and this is important if a company, like ours, has offices all around the world and keeps in touch with consumers in each and every country. In terms of products, our aim has always been to bring comfort to every house and globalisation has helped us a lot in this sense.

  Photography by: Cosimo Buccolieri

In your opinion, what makes a product beautiful and well-designed?

It is the perfect match of look and function. Aesthetics is not everything: what you see is not enough in a design product. What really makes the difference is comfort and attention to details, which is not always evident to the eye.

What is in the pipeline for Natuzzi?

Natuzzi is constantly working to realise harmonic environments in the house, and we are developing the idea of giving our customers a total living by Natuzzi where you can find this harmony in every room of the house through colours and materials. We are exploring the dining room and the bedroom through different and interesting projects which, alongside with the sofas and the accessories for the living room, will continue to be our focus for 2017.

Also, we are developing strong collaborations with many designers which work together with our Style Centre to enrich our catalogue and our offer.