S15 E07: Luca Fuso, CEO of Cassina

[Music] You're listening to the luxury item, the podcast on the business of luxury and the people and companies that are shaping the future of the luxury industry. Here's your host, Scott Kerr. Kassina is a renowned Italian company specializing in high-end designer furniture. Founded in 1927 by brothers Chesare and Humberto Kassina in Meda, Italy, the brand became a pioneer of industrial design in the 1950s, driving Italy's transition from artisanal furniture making to mass production. Kassina is celebrated for its fusion of advanced technology and skilled craftsmanship, always focusing on research experimentation and innovation. It's also the first company to involve some of the most renowned designers and architects in its narration, inviting in new shapes, references and influences from contemporary design, from Lucor Biaisei and Charlotte Perignon to Philippe Stark and Geoponte to name a few. Just ask anyone in the field, Kassina is probably the first name that comes to mind when discussing Italian industrial design. My guest on the luxury item is Luca Fuzzo, CEO of Kassina. Luca has extensive leadership and brand building experience across multiple industries, including fashion, eyewear, food and beverage, luxury automotive and high-end furniture design sectors. Prior to joining Kassina, Luca was chief brand officer at Ferrari, where he played a crucial role in brand strategy and management. He has also held senior roles at diesel, B&B Italia, Montclair and others. Welcome to the luxury item, Luca. Hello, yes, thank you. The Kassina story begins back in 1927, when 18-year-old entrepreneur Chesare Kassina and his brother Umberto, the sons and grandsons of Carpenter's for Metta, which is a city close to Milan, and famous for its design manufacturing, founded Kassina. It started out as a small family workshop, processing wood for tables for the local market, then a poultry was introduced to the business, and fast-forward nearly a hundred years later, Kassina company has become one of the most well-known symbols of high-end design. So what do you attribute to the longevity and success of Kassina? Well, first of all, thank you. This is due to the fact that Chesare and Umberto, to start with, had clear vision about what they wanted to do, maybe not so much in the beginning, but over time, I was clear that they wanted to end the starting design industry, about in the 1950. They wanted to experiment. They were welcoming innovation. They had, among the first, the intuition to collaborate with designers and not do things internally only. Then they had the flair for working well, making good products, looking for, or improving their operation excellence. They were, you know, willing to adopt avant-garde ideas. They always took care of the quality of the workmanship. They were ready to invest into machineries. And they embraced very early in design. And with that, you know, also the culture of design. So in a way, you know, they were able to understand and interpret also, you know, good level of think of forward thinking, what were the needs of, and the potential needs of customers at the, at the time. And then, you know, very good vision into the future. And Casino was among the first Italian furniture brands to shift from handcraftsmanship to embrace industrial production methods in the 1950s, bringing new materials and advanced production technologies into the design world. So how did that transition change the game for Casino? Well, basically, what happened is that, you know, as far as the demand was growing, then of course, you know, could not respond with things made 100% by people that was needed for more advanced level of production. So industrial production was a mean to make sure that, you know, more people could benefit from the great products that Casino was creating. And this also allowed an international expansion to the company and therefore to the brand. Industrial manufacturing means that you can really expand, you know, your capacity. And, you know, at the same time adopt new ways of making things that can improve quality, maybe in certain cases reduce the price and maintain standards. Then, you know, Casino has never been relying only on industrial production because every single product that is manufactured in our facilities is in any case finished by people. We know each and every, you know, who's doing specifically every single product. We have a name that stands, the person that stands behind it. And not one product is ever left. The Casino factories without being, you know, finished finalized by, by, by, by real people. And they are, you know, those who are ultimately responsible for the quality of each of every product. And up to that point, Casino had a stellar reputation for its strong commitments or traditional craftsmanship. So was Chesaree worried that moving to serial production with Tarnish its brand image? Now, as I said, Chesaree was, you know, a really innovative person. He had a personality that was geared towards, you know, the future and not looking only, not looking at the past, the past being used as, you know, base as a strong base to always to, you know, to create to create the future. It was very innovative and, you know, moving to serial production did not absolutely mean to abandon craftsmanship, but combining it to increase the production capacity and being able to, to develop modern designs and, you know, have achieved consistent level of quality and certainly a wider reach. I mean, expanding the presence of the brand in several markets for ready at a very early stage. Casino has a long history of working with iconic architects and designers such as Le Corbusier, Geopante, Franco Albini, Charlotte Perry, and others and, you know, some more recent creative minds. These collaborations have resulted in the creation and an exclusive production of many modern design classics. How have those collaborations been crucial to your brand identity? Well, I think they, you know, this all these collaborations over over the last 100 years, basically, or in any certainly over the last 70, 70 years, you know, contributed to creating an incredible portfolio of products designed by different designers, so different minds, having in mind different ideas in different period of the design. And therefore creating a great collection that spans over two decades and also creating a culture of design in the company and also outside outside outside of the company. For instance, this year we 25 we celebrated we are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the production of the the Cabrero de la Peria and collection of Casino. So we started in 1965, producing this collection that is still one of our main, one of our most important collections. And now we're celebrating the design anniversary that is very important, we could actually we start collaborations with the designers that then last for a very long time, you know, we collaborate with Philip Stark for over 30 years. The lot very and we started working with the archives for 20 years and we also we last year we celebrated this anniversary same with with Stark 30 year in 2024. So we established long term relationship, but at the same time, you know, we try to find new talent all the time because the collection is a combination of classic designs from from the past. So many cases also designs that never saw the light before before now, but we have a number of new designers that we welcome every basically every year in our in our. collection and we introduced. We also have a project that, or which we're very proud of, that is called patronage, that is aimed at, say, kind of discovering new talent and bringing them to the stage of design from the main door, using a brand like Casina that is well-known and recognized. So in this way we help designers, young designers to enter the design world from, really from the main entrance. But if you consider what happened in the past, it was exactly the same. So we'll just keep doing, you're keeping it fresh. Chasere and Alberto did in the past. I mean, they had Gaetano Peixe, they had Maribelini, they had Tobias Garpa, when they were extremely young and they were very young designers, working in the factory, working, creating the, establishing the Casina Research and Development Center, there's always been at the heart of the company. This is where new ideas, make shape, become products. So we want to make this going on and and happen again and again, this is our goal. And Casina has also collaborated with several luxury fashion houses, notably Ketan and Boteca Vanetta, as well as Italian luxury car manufacturer, Aloncha. Are you finding more luxury and lifestyle brands approaching you to help influence their clients? Well, I think the question is that it is very likely that the Casina customer is also a customer of other luxury accessories or cars, and therefore I think it's just normal that we have collaboration from time to time with fashion houses or even car manufacturers. For us, the key thing in this case is that we share the same values regarding quality, craftsmanship, regarding the wheel to experiment, to do something new. And so the public is the same. I mean, it's very likely that people buying Boteca Vanetta handbag will also buy Casina so far. So this is really a question of finding the right combination and sharing the same values and having the same wheel to do something that is interesting for the customers. Today, Casina furniture is still made in Metta with I'm sure each piece created to last a lifetime. How do you carry out production on an industrial scale using modern machinery while still involving the manual skills of the craftsman? Well, it's quite easy because actually, as I said, we use machinery to make production easier in a way to guarantee precision, to guarantee less waste to improve to increase speed. For instance, we store every possible item to increase efficiency. We have an automated fabric warehouse. We have CNC machines. We have laser cutting machines at the highest standards. And every single process that can be performed to a machine, we try to make it at its best. At the same time, this is just something that prepares for the final human touch. Because for instance, you cut fabric with a laser machine. And it is super precise. But then the sewing is made by people. We have a team of sewers that are doing it by end. Of course, using machines, using sewing machines. But then this makes the quality of the sewing, the precision of the sewing that is made by people. And then how the covers are placed on the sofas. Because this makes the difference between something that is well done and something that is not. So, the manual operations are still essential to achieving the final quality of each and every product. You joined the CEO of Casina in late 2018, after previously holding leadership and brand building positions in the fashion, eyewear, food and beverage luxury automotive and high-infurniture design sectors. And from what I understand, you are already a Casina customer. So, when you first joined Casina, what surprised you most about the brand? Certainly, it is true that I was a Casina customer and I had already many, many pieces in my home. But certainly, when you really faced the total extent of the collection, I was certainly surprised by the fact that this company, this brand, covers 120 years of design with over 40 different authors. And it has a unique combination of style. Actually, we say that we can really furnish every house style, every home of different style with Casina. Because actually, we have the chance to use all the different designers. And this makes possible to create very different ambience. It's very different atmosphere. So, now that you are on the other side of the table, if you will, leading the company, where did you see the opportunity for growth? Well, opportunity for growth is everywhere, basically. You can always do things better. So, there is always a chance that you can improve and then go from where you are. Certainly, we have been evolving the collection, moving from, say, living and dining in the living and dining areas. We have extended it to accessories creating artletable items, completing the collection with carpets, introducing a lighting collection, going outdoor with outdoor collection. So, expanding our territory and the latest addition to the collection, for instance, has been a proposal on working workshops just to go deeper into what we call the sleeping area, so to speak. So, basically, you can know expansion can happen on a geographical basis and on a proper basis and we're trying to tackle both of them. Well, also now that you are on the client side, if you will, it's a good time to talk about being immersed in the concept of the casino perspective, which is the guiding creative vision developed by Casina to define its approach to creating contemporary living environments. Could you elaborate on what the casino perspective is? The casino perspective is the way we look at design, basically. As I joined Casina, I immediately saw this. We had an incredible treasure, incredible patrimony of design spending over a long period of time, so it was just a question of putting them together and creating using those designs and thought in different peers of design by different authors to create a warm welcoming atmosphere that would make you feel atone. I usually say that when you buy an ambience, say an atmosphere from Casina, you buy a piece of your own, you don't buy a piece of a showroom. Actually, we have a very curated approach to preparing our rooms to preparing our proposals and therefore we take care in combining different products coming from different authors from different from different periods so that it doesn't look like a showroom but it looks like a home. And recently, we have added accessories, we have added every other part of the what makes an atmosphere is because of this because we want to make sure that you have something that makes you feel comfortable, that is functional, it is beautiful and it's yours. And actually, the casino perspective basically says that in only we Casina, you can have these two designs in one single place and this is thanks to the great span of the casino production and the casino designs over 120 years. And during the Milan Design Week 2019, Casina showcased these core values and spirit of the brand through an installation curated by the company's art director, Patricia Orchila. How did it bring the casino perspective to life at Milan Design Week that year? Again. And the idea was coming from the company. Then Patricia, she's a super smart person. And we know each other for a long time before working together at Casina. So it was an immediate combination of sharing a way to present the brand in a different way. She embraced it. And actually we started from that year and to, you know, from to step to step improve the presentation. And then we continued introducing new products, new new and inventing into new areas for the collection so that we could implement this constant this concept every every time every time better possible. I was reading an article recently about a study that examines the sales of the world's top 10 upscale furnishing decor and lighting firms. It revealed that the top global companies, including Hayworth, which owns Casina, generate 12% of their sales from online business business and 21% from contract sales compared to 5% and 14% respectively in 2019. The trend of purchasing high-end and luxury furniture online continues to accelerate globally. How has that consumer shift in behavior changed your digital investments and strategies? We immediately, you know, when this, you know, we were aware that this was happening. So we embraced this as much as we heard shifting investments from from print advertising for us and into digital activating all possible social media relevance. And so we started to develop social media channels and, you know, creating a new website and also starting any commerce any commerce online online shop. It is true that certainly, you know, things are evolving. At the moment, we mainly sell accessories online, not really, you know, big big high-dance. Certainly true that every single purchase starts with a research online, at least, you know, the over when the majority of them. And so, you know, being present digitally, it's, it's really the most important thing that we that you can do. And also to allow people to understand better and to know a little better in advance. The products and also to understand what is the depth of our collection because what you find in physical products is only very small, very small part of it. And you visit to another, you visited our store in in midtown in New York and for sure, I mean, even though they have a big display, I mean, they can just display a very small portion of what is our. Yeah, and we're seeing Taylor made upscale furniture projects for luxury residences, retail and hotels. They're booming these days. Could you talk about the contract side of your business and what kind of growth you are seeing there. So basically, Casino started its custom interior division in the 50s of the last century. Actually, this was one of the of the reason why then Casino moved to industrial production because actually they were finishing cruise ships. You know, cruise liners that were going from the from Europe to to the US and in that period, ships were designed by Joe Ponte, there was at the time, you know, very much involved with with Casina. And therefore, this prompt, not only the not only say industrial production, but also the fact that we would start making a special project for for special needs. This is going on since then and we currently do a lot of really shops for the most important luxury brands as well as we do a lot of hospitality projects for very high end hotel chains or single or restaurants or single or single customers they want to have a specific design made made by us with, you know, we have project. Some of the latest projects, you know, then many I cannot say to you, I mean, our customers are very tight on on letting, letting know who's done the project, but, you know, we've been working with the lemon, you know, tell him, I guess they were not the say most iconic hotels in the world. We are working with the bottle palaces and more it's and then we did so many others projects in in the worldwide when it comes to, you know, very and special project we always in the picture. After the exceptional two year post COVID period in which the high end design market underwent truly exceptional growth, the sector is kind of finally normalized, if you will, how's Cassine is business in the first half of this year. Well, we had an incredible growth in the in the in the past call in the post COVID years, so given that the market situation now is certainly not as good as it was, as it was then, now we're looking at maintaining that level that we achieved over those, over those outstanding years. Certainly, there are many situations that are preventing now stronger growth. We ready to, you know, take all the possible opportunities, but say now the current situation worldwide is not really ideal for for double digits, bro, for instance. So question that your private clients are predominantly affluent highly discerning and value uniqueness and authentic design, they're willing to invest in premium pieces for their homes. What is it about the casino brand story that appeals to them? People might be attracted by casino because we have some great classic designs and therefore, you know, many people know those designs and even though there are many copies, the certain people find the original products. So they come to us, but also I believe is the combination between this great classics that we always update because we don't only do the always the same products, but because consistently update them with the new proposals. And also we bring to light and to life designs that we conceived many years ago, but they never saw the market. So we are bringing some products that were designed for instance, you know, we the first comes my mind is the radio in crystal, or crystal radio by Frank called beanie. Designed in 1938 and obtained radio from from radio was given to him for his for his wedding by placing what was inside. And just a traditional radio between two glass panels without having the technology for doing it because you know having a loud speaker works if it's working in an close environments, but now that it's very difficult. And with modern technology, we were able to obtain, you know, extremely high level of sound fidelity that were not possible in 1938 and therefore we decided to bring this great concept to life in 2021. And these are things you know consistently because as much as we are able to discover designs where there were not possible in the because of the technology because of other issues in the past we tried to bring them to life. But actually I think what really attracts people to casino is the really combination between great classic designs and and the level of innovation that we bring to the market every year. And the brand is also shaped by its active engagement with design culture through participation in significant exhibitions and partnerships, publications and other initiatives. What goes into casino actively shaping the discourse around design, modernity and cultural values and not just responding to it. Well, as I think we already talked about this, this is you know culture, the culture of this culture of design is part of our DNA. So, you know, as we also take a very active part in developing this culture and we want to be, you know, very proactive in doing in doing that. That's why we, you know, organize as much as we can. Cultural activities are not finalized to, you know, to any commercial result and I think we have the luxury of being able to do that from from time to time. And you know, we like to, you know, put together ideas, challenge them. and find sometimes also disruptive ways of presenting them in order to create some new thinking, you know, propagate, you know, kind of reaction to these ideas. Two years ago, we organized for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Emaistic Collection, the Disagression of Our Classic Designs. We have created an exhibition in a vault of a bank, you know, using a totally red light, just creating an atmosphere that was certainly not, you know, what people would have expected. And then certainly, we also work a lot with public institutions, with foundations. We were, you know, very important part of the exhibition that took place in 2020, the Louiston Foundation about Charlotte Perriand. We are working on several exhibitions every year, collaborating with many institutions. So this is just part of our DNA. I mean, we just do it because we believe it's important that we participate in expanding the, knowledge of about design and about the history of design and about the culture of design that worldwide. These cultural shifts and changes in society impact, also impact our living spaces and how we define what home means. And COVID-19 pandemic has produced profound and sustainably unexpected implications for how we think about value and experience our living space. So does Cassina monitor changing changes in like social behaviors to see how it influences the habitat of today and the future and of so do they play out in your collections? - Well, first of all, we did the lack of collaborating with very innovative designers. And, you know, their eyes and the ears are open to everything that is new. Our creative director Patricia Kjola is one of the most active person in this field. She has relationship with from philosophers to poets, to sculptures, to painters, to writers, to any kind of covering all aspects of culture. And therefore, I mean, we collect all of this and then try to adopt it in our products. And this happens on a daily basis. And then of course, I mean, take for instance, you know, one of the most important effects of COVID was the development of outdoor furniture. Actually, then everyone wanted to have more, you know, to live more outside. And therefore, outdoor, you know, took a leap in development. And certainly, you know, we were likely ready. We had just launched the very same year of COVID, you know, our outdoor collection. So, yeah, I mean, we really tried to consider the evolution of the social behaviors and, you know, and of, you know, how people live their places every day. - I see, you know, often teams up with research institutions and innovators to integrate sustainability into its product development, such as with the Casino Lab, which was born from the collaboration with Polly Design at the Milan Polytechnic. Could you talk about Casino's commitment to sustainability and research? - Well, yes, when we decided that we wanted to do something about this, this super important item. And we realized that we were not able to perform, you know, based research ourselves. So that's why we created this collaboration with the Milan Polytechnic and the design faculty, because actually they set up a team of 15 professionals, specializing in different branches from architecture to chemistry, to biology, to, you know, new materials, developments and so on and so forth, in order to find the possible ways to adopt circular materials in our products to develop innovative ways of using them and to replace traditional materials. We said, you know, our main goal was to make sure that there would be no compromise on the level of quality, durability and comfort. And certainly, durability is the key sustainability item in our industry, because I mean, our products are forever, not for, not for today or tomorrow. That this makes them already, already sustainable, but our commitment was to certainly adopt all the newest possible material and not only that, but we also decided to not only replace traditional materials with new materials whenever it was possible, but also to design for this assembly, so that every new product that we design starting from 2020 is not only designed to be beautiful, to be resistant, to be durable, but also to be disassembly at the end of the product life cycle. And in order to make sure that we have, you know, great clarity on this, we also adopted an index that has been devised together with the, with the institution that is, that is specializing in this, an index that is calculating the similarity of, of each product, so that we know exactly how much of the product can be upcycle at the end of the product life cycle, how much has to be, has to be discarded, and how things can be separated for, say, for either upside, upcycling or being discarded. So of course we, this is a long-term commitment, we are now, you know, also implementing this for products that were pre-existing to this initiative, but it's something that we believe is, something that needs to be done on an ongoing basis to make sure that our products are more and more sustainable. I think Casina, you know, is a tradition of doing that, I mean, being innovative, because as I mentioned before, I mean, we started our research and development center in the 60s, in the last century, and in this research and development center, we've always been looking for new ideas. So now we created this Casina Lab, but we've always been committed to improving ways of doing products, to using the most advanced materials, and so on and so forth. So it is just, I think, our duty to keep doing this for the future, and also influencing, influencing the rest of the industry, and making our final customers aware what we're doing so that they can decide what they buy also based not only on the aesthetics and durability, but also on the level of adoption of SQL materials and the SQL, the circularity of products. - I wanna talk about the T word tariffs. So the United States is the Italian furniture industry, the second biggest market after France, I believe. I'm assuming it's more than half of Casina's sales, starting last month, European furniture and other goods were hit with 15% import tariff, not as high as the 30% that they were talking about at one point, but still a bump. The intent is to address trade imbalances and encourage more domestic manufacturing, but it has had a direct effect on raising costs for European furniture brands and US consumers alike. How has it impacted your business? - For the world, it's a very creative way of, say, facing commercial imbalance between European and United States. So let's say, let's collect this way. It certainly had a big influence on our activities with the US. We're not yet able to draw any conclusion, but there is a lot of uncertainty. So basically, most people put on all their orders. So did our distributors in the United States, our dealers, they want to know better, they want to say, way to have clarity if the tariffs are lifted, or if they will replace orders more easily. and if Tares will increase, they will not. So, It is really a very specific moment and a very difficult moment for nothing, the whole industry dealing with the United States. I'm sure you're already gearing up for Cassine's big 100th anniversary. Can you share some of the things that you're thinking about, things that are in the works, things that you could talk about? Well, of course we started already a couple of years ago thinking about the separation of our first century. But at the moment I cannot reveal anything because things are still in development. We consider this really a huge milestone for the brand and we're consistently working on putting things together to create something very special but still very early to say something definite. Sorry, but I cannot. That's okay, understood, but I had to ask anyway. Luca, my final question is the luxury item question which I ask all my guests. If you were stranded on a deserted island and you could only have one single luxury item with you, what would that luxury item be? It can't be any form of air or water transportation to get you off that island or anything that requires mobile service so you can call somebody to get you off that island. It's just you on this lonely island by yourself. What would the one single luxury item you would like to have with you? That's an easy one, I guess, but actually, oftentimes it's really hard for people. Right, but I mean, you know, the deserted island you miss going to part this, going to the movies, even TV or any other form of entertainment. So I guess the most important thing is to have a good seating. And to at least look at the horizon and observe an admired sunset and maybe also sunrise. So I guess that you know what I would like to have is a share long by the Courbusier January and Periano that is not only one super iconic piece in our collection, but it's also a super comfortable piece to, you know, to perform observation activities. So say and contemplate and meditation and, you know, spending relaxing time. Cucufuzo, CEO of Casina, thank you so much for joining me on the luxury item. You're very welcome. Thank you so much. That's it for this episode of the Luxury Item Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. If you found this useful and entertaining, I would be really grateful if you can share it with a friend or colleague. I would love it if you subscribe so you never miss an episode. And while you're there, be sure to rate and review us on Apple podcasts. It really helps other listeners find us. The Luxury Item Podcast is a production of Silver Tone Consulting. I'm your host, Scott Kerr. Until next time.