Natuzzi
| Società per azioni | |
| Traded as | NYSE: NTZ |
| Industry | upholstery, Manufacturing |
| Founded | 1959 |
| Headquarters | Santeramo in Colle, Italy |
Key people | Pasquale Natuzzi, Chairman of the Board and CEO |
| Products | furniture |
| Revenue | €488.5 million (2015) |
Number of employees | 5,633 (2015) |
| Website |
www |
Natuzzi Group (NYSE: NTZ) is a furniture company founded in 1959 by Pasquale Natuzzi, the group's Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Group Stylist. It designs, produces and markets sofas, armchairs and living room accessories. Natuzzi is Italy's largest furniture house and the company with the greatest global reach in its sector. In 1993, Natuzzi Group became the only foreign furniture company to list on Wall Street. It is headquartered in Santeramo in Colle, Apulia, Italy.[1]
History
Pasquale Natuzzi was very young when he started his career. The son of a cabinet-maker, in 1959 at 19 years of age he opened a workshop in Taranto with three collaborators, producing sofas and armchairs for the local market. In 1962 he moved to Matera where he began to gain commercial experience. In 1967, still in Matera, Pasquale Natuzzi returned to the production of sofas and armchairs, this time on an industrial scale. In 1972 he founded Natuzzi Salotti S.r.l. One year later, following a fire that completely destroyed the Matera factory, Pasquale Natuzzi decided to relocate production to Santeramo in Colle (Bari – Italy), which is the modern-day headquarter of the Group.
Somewhere about the middle of the 1970s, Natuzzi took part for the first time in a furniture fair in Bari. Here started first contacts with customers from the Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan. In 1976 Natuzzi exported 60% of the turnover in those countries, while 40% was realized in Italy.
The beginning of the 1980s was the turning point in Natuzzi Group's growth. During a trip to the United States, Pasquale Natuzzi intuitively spotted an opportunity to carry out a radical change of direction: "democratizing" the leather sofa, once a product for an elite niche. The first sofa sold at $999 in the United States was a Natuzzi, at Macy's.
Following the success in the United States, in 1985 Natuzzi Upholstery Inc. was established. Based in New York, the company was especially designed for the needs of its North American clients. In 1998, further confirmation of the Group's strong ties with the American market was given by the inauguration in High Point, North Carolina, of a futuristic-looking building, designed by the architect Mario Bellini, housing the offices of Natuzzi Americas, with a showroom measuring 8,000 square metres.
With North American expansion continuing, the Group then went on to strengthen its presence in Italy and throughout Europe. The 1990s saw the opening in Taranto, on Pasquale Natuzzi's initiative, of the first shop in the franchising chain Divani & Divani by Natuzzi. There are 274 Natuzzi stores worldwide (mainly in Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, France, Switzerland, China, and Australia), and 335 Natuzzi Galleries, mainly in the United States and Northern Europe.
Today Pasquale Natuzzi personally oversees strategic activities relating to strengthening the brand with investments in product innovation and research, marketing, communication and staff training, working alongside the Group's managers to define future strategies.
Natuzzi Group values
The mission of the Natuzzi Group is to create value with integrity: For clients, employees and shareholders, creating value with integrity means acting with trust and transparency, focusing on teaming, having accountability and working with passion. This implies above all full compliance with the law and a strong sense of responsibility towards the Group and all the people involved. These are simply not a list of rules to be followed or theories to be applied; but actual values... we take to heart, a real frame of reference for all those who have dealings with Natuzzi Group.
Natuzzi products
The Group's product offering is divided into three brands.
Natuzzi Italia is the "made in Italy" brand dedicated to the medium to high-end market. The sofas and armchairs of the Natuzzi Italia collection are enriched by a selection of home furnishings, lamps, accessories, and living room furniture. Natuzzi Italia products are distributed through single-brand point of sales: Natuzzi Store and Natuzzi Gallery (shop-in-the-shop) Leather Editions.
Natuzzi Editions is the brand that inherited Natuzzi's original vocation: to provide a wide range of sofas and armchairs in leather, available in different designs and functions.
Private Label (Softaly) is a sales program dedicated to key accounts.[2]
See also
Bibliography
- Agnese Sinisi, Natuzzi Un divano a Wall Street – Milano, Egea, 2008
- Federico Pirro, Angelo Guarini, Grande Industria e Mezzogiorno 1996-2007 – Bari, Cacucci Editore, 2008
- Federico Rampini, L’impero di Cindia – Milano, Mondadori, 2007
- Gianfranco Viesti, Il Sud che attrae - Donzelli Editore, 2002
- Franco Tatò, Perché la Puglia non è la California - BC Dalai Editore, 2002
- Mauro Castelli, Questa Italia siamo noi – Milano - Il Sole 24 Ore, 2000
- Roberto Napoletano, Fatti per vincere - Sperling&Kupfer, 1999