Pasquale Junior Natuzzi reflects on blending tradition with innovation, preserving Puglia’s olive trees, and infusing his family’s heritage brand with a lighter, warmer Mediterranean aesthetic.
Pasquale Junior “PJ” Natuzzi’s keen sense of style is apparent from the moment he enters a room. But its the figurative hats he wears that perhaps drive him the most: chief brand and creative officer of Natuzzi Italia (natuzzi.com) and head of fundraising and communication for Save the Olives (savetheolives.com/en/). During Miami Art Week, he wore them all at Natuzzi’s showroom in the Miami Design District, where the brand showcased its newest collection alongside Puglia Lovers, a project in collaboration with Regione Puglia and artist Agostino Iacurci that aims to celebrate and preserve the heart and soul of Puglia: the olive tree. We sat down with PJ Natuzzi to discuss his multi-mission of blending design, heritage, innovation and preservation.
Pasquale Junior Natuzzi in the Natuzzi Italia showroom in the Miami Design District during Miami Art Week PORTRAIT BY JORDAN C. BRAUN
THE OLIVE TREES
“Save the Olives is a nonprofit that we sponsor and support as Natuzzi, as Puglian, and as people from that beautiful land. They actively research olive tree types resistant to the Xylella Fastidiosa bacteria currently threatening them. These olive trees are so beautiful, secular and giant that seeing them die breaks my heart. With Puglia Lovers, we collaborated to communicate a very unhappy topic in a happy way, and we do that through art. And the moment art expresses itself best is during Art Basel. So, with Agostino Iacurci, an Italian artist of global success born in Puglia, we wanted to present an installation that could communicate this topic artistically. Through this project called ‘Mediterranean Scrub,’ he’s presenting how, through non-monoculture cultivation and harvesting of olive trees, we can potentially power up and create greenery around olive trees that can support the olive tree to resist and be protected from this bacteria.”
THE SHOWROOM
“We’ve brought in all of our newest collections presented in Milan during Milan Design Week. We’ve also rethought the store in terms of mood and the materials we selected, thinking of Miami and Floridians and the vibe here. We interpreted the color white and all of its shades and creamy neutral tones to match and meet the tastes of Miami designers and clients. Natuzzi’s sense of the Mediterranean lifestyle can be felt here. Our idea of hospitality is delivered through a great team that loves hosting and welcoming clients and helping to create projects for them.”
THE COLLECTION
“My favorite pieces in the collection are the Infinito sofa by Marcantonio and the Momento by Simone Bonnani. The Momento’s name is inspired by the idea of relaxing in the moment—living moments of quiet luxury, of perennial harmony, and finding beauty in relaxation.”
THE VISION
“I joined this company 14 years ago. My father and mother have always been creative and pursued beauty in all its essences. So art, fashion, photography and styling were in my DNA, and I’ve been harvesting this passion all my life. When I joined Natuzzi, I tried to bring this more dynamic approach that mixes the world of fashion with the world of furniture. Back in the day, my father was the company’s sole designer. After my creative direction nomination, I started to pursue creativity through others’ perspectives, bringing designers into the equation and finding collaboration and design diversity as a great source of inspiration. I try to take the most diverse characters and DNA in design and have them interpret Natuzzi. Because if you blend water and water, even if one is sparkling and one is still, it’s going to get you only water. Whereas blending different substances—there we innovate, there we create, and there we evolve brands.”
