Digital People: Intervista a Giovanna Furlanetto

Welcome to you too.

This is a Palazzo, more than a Villa, originally built in the 1500s and expanded in the 1700s. Over time, it was owned by 3 or 4 important families from Bologna, until we took it over and restored it in line with strict conservation principles. The works took 5 or 6 years to complete, because, unfortunately, in Italy things always take very long. We encountered several problems, what with environmental issues, municipal issues, authorisations, and so on. We tried to safeguard the building to the best of our abilities. Many of the ceilings are frescoed, and so we restored the paintings as well. Just last year, the building and the historic park were listed by the Monuments and Fine Arts Office.

We have recorded over 6 million contacts, and these are increasing at great speed. This is partly because we are developing more and more special projects aimed at increasing this community of customers: users that browse our website, our brand online. To this end, we have developed a project called CandyCool that involves the use of videos. I am passionate about videos. I produced my first video in 2002, with Eva Marisaldi, a finalist of the Furla prize. That's when I first started looking to videos as a truly progressive communication tool and in 2002 it really was.

You may be surprised to hear that I personally oversaw the Candy project myself. I am interested in technological innovation and in forward-looking creativity. This interest of mine is something I have borrowed from the art world. Artists often use innovative materials in unusual ways. I have also always been very interested in technology applied to fashion. Everything related to fashion is suddenly ultra expensive. Things that stem from industry, instead, can have very interesting aesthetic aspects while also being affordable compared to the fashion circuit: fabrics, metal accessories, and so on. I am also interested in new technologies. This bag, which has been so successful, is injection moulded and die case, using non-toxic material. The product was significantly propped by research. The bag, which should have been part of the collection, has become a fully-fledged brand within the brand.

We made our first moulded bag -- a tote bag, to be precise -- in PVC in the 1990s. We have been following these innovative materials for a long time. I have to say that they have now reached high levels of quality, softness, durability, and an endless range of colours... just think that we actually produce pantone colours... Extremely precise... 50 shades of pink, give or take. It's really exciting.

It is a very good relationship. I try to instil in all those who work in the Style Centre my own constant search for what's next. My battle cry is 'Astound me'. We are actually extending our horizons into the art world, something that we... In February-March 2015, we'll be celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Furla prize, with a retrospective on the 10 winners of this project, which set out as a completely philanthropic project supporting young talents in the art world. I am in almost daily contact with the Style Centre. I expound my points of view, listen to their proposals, discuss any issues... But I have to say that they're really excellent at what they do. I find they are also very interested in everything that occurs outside the company, because it is important to instil your inner world into any product. It is important to be open: to art, to cinema, to exhibitions, to travel. Because the more one takes in, the more one feeds the spirit, then the more interesting are the products one conceives and produces.

Certainly. A really talented person... the most important talents are always fully-rounded people.

Talent doesn't exist without creativity. But creativity alone is not sufficient. It needs to be channelled, also via your own personal culture. Creativity itself does not instantly become talent. You need to learn how to direct it, and the greater your cultural baggage, then the easier it is to transform creativity into talent. The two things go hand in hand...

We map the young Italian art scene via 10 curators, 5 from Italy and 5 from abroad. This gives us a dual overview, and also allows the foreign curators to get to know Italian artists as they visit their studios, so as to promote Italian art beyond our country's frontiers. Then we select the 5 finalists, and the end winner. At present we have 9 winners...soon we will have 10, as the jury is currently choosing the 5 finalists of the 10th edition of the Furla prize. And I have to say several of our finalists have gone on to have a successful career. Winning is not necessarily a guarantee of future success. But I am proud to say that 7 of our finalists were at the Italian Pavilion of the last Biennale.

Yes. Wonderfurla is a project that we launched in London. It is a community, in which people, whether customers or otherwise, send us a picture of themselves with a Furla item. The challenge is to take a creative picture. The invitation is to dress as you like, and try to impress, as this is your big change.

Well yes, it's becoming increasingly difficult.

By never tiring of investigating, learning, being inquisitive, in every sphere. For example, I was reading yesterday about the new 3D printers and the incredible things they can do, such as reproduce your face faithfully. The driving force is always the same: the desire to understand, learn, investigate. Just think of the ultra-light alloys used in aeronautics... everything that can represent innovation must be sought out. Naturally, sometimes you can only transpose very little - or even nothing - into your own world.

E-commerce can augment the success of a company. But ever company owes its success first and foremost to its products. Using e-commerce either for the purpose of sales or info-commerce... whenever I come across a brand I don't know, I visit the website...

Yes, certainly, but I can imagine that the first port of call for people in faraway countries in which we are making our debut would be the Furla website, as it represents the company's product range and the opportunity to make purchases online. This is becoming more and more popular. Lots of my friends now buy happily online, just like teenagers, which is something I would never have expected to see. E-commerce, therefore, certainly has a two-fold purpose. For sales... I believe that some companies achieve on average up to 10% of their turnover this way, which is a considerable amount. We are even witnessing switches. Take Luisa in Florence, for example. About 90% of her turnover is achieved via her website, which has become a destination point in Italy for those seeking out the brand. E-commerce, therefore, helps to promote one's product range and encourage in-store sales.

Yes, a few things.

Books, sneakers, the easiest things of course! I don't think I'd buy clothes, because I like to browse and try them on. I am very choosy, I don't like to wear just anything. When you come across so much in your world, you become... a bit like Giorgio Armani, who's always dressed the same.

I think that, with the overabundance of brands in our sector -- nowadays everyone has a line of leather goods, bags, accessories -- it is very difficult to reach the top. You need it all: an innovative product, first-rate quality, stores... In other words, price isn't enough. People could think: I charge high prices, and that makes me part of the luxury world. Absolutely not. There are even reverse trends. Just yesterday I was reading about two very important brands, an English leather wear brand and an American jewellery brand, that are taking steps backwards. It is clear to everyone that the world, starting with Italy, is becoming a poorer place. To make it big, you need all the things we mentioned earlier stores, communication, investments, ongoing quality. Today, quality is pivotal. In a country such as Japan, if you do not keep the promise of quality you can damage the company significantly. The Japanese are delightful, but incredibly - and rightly - demanding.

I joined the company as a schoolgirl, when I was sixteen. I come from a family of 7 siblings, 5 boys and 2 girls. I was the oldest. My father worked in the world of accessories, and he asked me to help him out. I started to lend him a hand with his wholesale business dealing with various female accessories. That's when I took my first tentative steps in this world. I'd go with him to choose from sample collections. He always placed a lot of trust in me. He'd tell me, 'go on, choose'. Little by little I acquired confidence. I believe that we are the product of those who have believed in you, and my father believed very much in me. Unfortunately, two of my brothers who worked with me died very young. I had to take on a great responsibility, which I carry on my shoulders to this day. But to me, projecting the brand into the future is a challenge. Over the years, I have seen the company grow in terms of quality, distribution, product image. It's been a demanding but beautiful journey. Today we have over 1500 employees across the world, 95% of whom are women. It's been a great responsibility.

Italy would lose out on a family-run business, because Furla is held 100% by the family. That includes my brothers' families. One had no children, the other had 4. It would lose out on a family-run business that has always grown through self-financing, therefore reinvesting everything. We have always grown without accounting alchemies and on our own devices. We must wait and see what the future holds. But let me tell you what Furla would be without Italy. In every country and on every journey -- the latest to Indonesia, a country I didn't know and had to check the globe to find it's almost as far off as Australia -- I have witnessed great interest, respect and recognition for Italian products. When you say you're Italian, you can see the faces of people on the other side of the world sparkle with interest. Evidently we carry with us our history, our culture, the beauty of our country. All this somehow makes its way into our products. I met a Chinese man...I saw the first Chinese factory with 1000 people under the same roof, working with headphones -- in some ways, a frightening sight -- and the man said to me, I want to buy a house in Florence. I asked him, why? And he said, 'because I want to breathe in Italy, I want to understand why you produce should beautiful things of such great quality'. Just think. Someone on the other side of the world aspires to live in Italy a few weeks a year just to understand how and why this country produces such creativity and beauty.

I never had the pleasure of meeting her, but it's what you learn when you leave Italy. We have to be very careful to safeguard this incredible heritage that we can enjoy due to the mere fact of having been born here.

Good bye Digital People, thank you.