Pasquale Junior Natuzzi was born in Bari, Puglia, in 1990 – with dual Italian and American citizenship – and is the son of Pasquale Natuzzi and Kimberlee Monique Philips.
He began his studies in Italy at Bocconi University’s Faculty of Economics, specializing in Economics and Management. During this period, he began to develop his interest in marketing and branding. This experience acted as a springboard into the business world: in 2010, at the age of just 20, he decided to suspend his university studies to found The Secret Society: a fashion start-up characterized by a disruptive, unconventional approach.
In 2011, he moved to New York to attend courses in Asset and Wealth Management at major international banking groups. In 2012, he returned to Italy and joined Natuzzi as Marketing Program Manager, specializing in marketing and communication management, focusing on the creation of digital communication projects and the development of highly experiential events.
At the same time, he became Brand Ambassador, a role that led him to travel around the world as a representative of the DNA and values of the company.
In 2015 Pasquale Junior started working together with CEO and Chairman Pasquale Natuzzi, on the re – branding project that will launch a deep renovation process of the communication strategy culminating with a new signature style, adding the Apulian – Mediterranean lifestyle as the focus of the brand communication.
In 2016, he was appointed Communication Director and Deputy Creative Director, launching the Natuzzi Digital R-evolution. Perfectly integrating offline and online channels, rethinking the customer journey even through new communication instruments developed, all to emotionally engage with consumers, the new customer experience will completely change the brand’s communicative approach.
In 2017, he is entrusted with the position of Chief Marketing & Communications. He explores fresh avenues in the development of new products – the result of important collaborations with internationally renowned designers – and has launched a new brand strategy with the goal of transforming Natuzzi Italia into a lifestyle brand that is able to attract new generations of consumers through an experiential approach that unites design, communication, events and interactive projects.
In October 2018 he adds to his tasks the role of Stylist and Creative Director, thus becoming Chief Creative & Marketing Officer. In 2019 he is also appointed Regional Manager Emerging Markets and joins the board of Natuzzi SpA in 2020.
In 2020 Pasquale Junuior has been confirmed as a member of the FederlegnoArredo General Council, leading the Sustainability Task Force (design, sustainability and synergies for the leadership in the Italian furniture sector).
In 2021 he is appointed Global Business Contract Channel Director in charge for the World Wide management of the Business Contract division and in 2022 he has been appointed Chief Brand Officer of Natuzzi Italia.
He likes to describe himself as a contemporary nomad, with firm roots in Puglia (where he lives in a trullo house) and Milan, but with an eye on the world, which he constantly explores in search of new talent in the art and design world. He is passionate about fashion and craftsmanship and personally designs his clothes, which are made by “masters” of Neapolitan and Apulian tailoring.
In the las years, Pasquale Junior Natuzzi has rebuilt the image of the family company, starting with the marketing strategy and finally arriving to the stylistic choices. He worked on the concepts of iconic Apulia and Mediterranean lifestyle, pushing the new vision of Natuzzi as a lifestyle brand. He started new collaboration with internationally celebrated designers like Marcel Wanders, Ross Lovegrove, Fabio Novembre among others, winning important international awards (Red Dot Award Design Concept 2019, Red Dot Award – Product Design 2020, ADI) launching new iconic products.
After taking charge of the creative direction of the brand, Pasquale Junior moved the focus of the company from products to experiences. He redefined the sales network – more than 300 stores around the world – as well as the retail communication transforming the stores in theatrical spaces, analyzing the exhibition space as a scenography, hence redesigning the whole vision for the stores. He has also involved Microsoft for the development of the first Augmented Store in the furniture business. Thanks to the application of augmented and virtual reality, the Natuzzi Augmented stores offer an immersive space, able to rewrite the usual shopping experience in the design world.
In 2019 Forbes Italia included Pasquale Junior in the list of the 100 under-30 Italian entrepreneurs, and in 2020 he has been the only Italian guest to the Global Family Gathering, organized by the Family Business Network – as the representative of the Italian Association of Italian Family Companies (AIDAF) – sharing experiences and best practices to contribute to the training of the new generation of family businesses.
