40
Eleonore Cavalli:
«From luxury to meta-luxury,
for a more sustainable future»
Vanity Fair
How much does all this environmental research cost?
«It costs, but it is a cultural transformation necessary to move forward,
an investment. Also because ours is a transformation of thought,
which involves the whole company, all departments. But at a certain
point we have to make some field choices, to give a clear signal to our
customers. Of course, you need to allocate budgets, but every year
you decide to invest on which area: first it was wood, then leathers and
fabrics and then the productive rethinking. We set ourselves goals
to reach and we compose the puzzle, piece by piece. Sometimes
we just need to rethink about products we already produce, without
major revolutions: for example, we have revised one of our historic
kitchens, simply by lightening the materials, which then went on to
affect transport, ease of assembly, possible disposal, which also
impact on the environment. Large companies must be bearers of
positive values, going beyond their immediate profit. We are now
seeing the results of choices made three years ago, when for example
we proposed a collection composed by vegetable and natural raw
materials, eliminating foam rubber and oil-based polyurethane: we
have sought increasingly responsible solutions and our customers
seem to be even more convinced of their purchases. A more visceral
bond has been created, linked to shared values, rather than to portfolio
capacity».
But how has the concept of luxury changed in recent years?
«A lot. Luxury has always been there, it is an element of distinction,
uniqueness and often associated with Made in Italy. But today luxury
no longer belongs only to the sphere of exclusivity for the type of
material or for the economic value of the object, it is increasingly
linked to the values it is able to transmit, it becomes a distinctive
element, that choice of field of which we talked before. This is why, for
example, we no longer speak of luxury, but of meta-luxury: I no longer
buy a chair because it is a beautiful silk velvet chair with lacquered
legs, but I buy it because this chair was produced in Italy, because I
know that the workers who assembled it have regular employment
contracts, because I know that the materials are not toxic, because
everything is controlled, everything is verified. This is the new luxury,
a sustainable luxury, with a sense of responsibility. In 2019, for the
60th anniversary of the company, we presented a decalogue, a true
manifesto of intentions, with which to shed light on our range of
action and define the route: if you are a sustainable company you will
create a sort of virtuous ecosystem: if you get a certification, even the
craftsman who works with you will have obtained it. It is a cultural pact,
a seed that germinates and bears fruit, it is a way of doing business by
obtaining a good turnover, but also a healthy turnover».
40
