Opening the Doors of North America

Pietro Pirrello reknowned as the Ambassador of Italian Furniture and Design to Canada

I opened the doors of North America, particularly of Canada, to at least 25 Italian furniture makers. I procured them millions in sales, and this turned them into big companies."
Thus spoke Pietro Pirrello, 69 years old, just decorated as Knight of the Republic of Italy, with Consul General Luca Brofferio presenting him the honour just a couple of weeks ago.
This is the greatest honour among the 20 or so he received - he lost count of them - and it comes as the crowning achievement of a career devoted to leading his company's growth but also to promoting Italy's arts and crafts, for free, as he remarked.
Mr. Pirrello, why did you do it?
"Because I'm very fond of Italian products, of nice furniture. It's in my blood. I'm doing this because I like it."
From this standpoint, Pirrello is not a man of business. He's an artist, a sensitive fellow, with a taste for beauty.
"In Gibellina, Sicily, close to Trapani, which I left at 17 years of age," says Pirrello. "I had learned woodworking. I was a cabinet-maker, and there was plenty of work. I also played the saxophone in the town band. My brother pointed me the way to business, which was his specialty. He had come to Canada in 1952, and called me over. I joined him in 1953 and he insisted so much I began trading in furniture."
Pirrello's secret is all here: an artist by vocation, a businessman by duty.
Thanks to this fortunate combination of factors, 25 Italian manufacturers became big companies exporting to North America.
Canadians in particular were introduced to the quality and design of Italian furniture.
Pietro Pirrello eagerly underscores that he did not bring only Italian design, but most of all a culture of furniture that was previously missing.
Pirrello's work, with over 40 years in the trade, was not easy. It is true that his furniture was used in the most luxurious homes of Toronto, Montreal and elsewhere in the continent, but convincing Italian artisans to make furniture that suited North American needs was very hard at first. "Those who understood and complied managed to penetrate into two new foreign markets. But many artisans did not accept to make changes to their furniture to make them fit North American houses and lifestyles. Their cupboards were too big and their chests of drawers too small, and king-sized beds did not exist. Thanks to my insistence, one small step after another, I managed to obtain smaller cupboards, double or raised-back chests of drawers. I only gave new measurements for existing lines. The style was left unchanged. Sales soon skyrocketed from a few pieces to hundreds of containers per year."
You mentioned the culture of furniture. Whom did you transmit this culture to? Whom are you selling Italian furniture to? "At first, style furniture was mostly for Italians; nowadays, non-Italians have joined them, led by Russians and Chinese."
"We furnished very high-class residences in Florida, Chicago, Montreal, and Ottawa. We exported our furniture to Taipei, Taiwan, Trinidad, and Port of Spain. Businesspeople are in love with Italian style. For instance, a Russian man spent $650,000 for furnishing his Toronto home in the Empire style. A Vietnamese put in his home, in addition to the furniture, a painting with a view of Lake Como, instead of a Vietnam scene. Foreigners come to Cantù Interiors because they can find it all: furniture, paintings, rugs, sculptures... and they spend freely. They know what beauty is. A Toronto jeweller who spent over $300,000 remarked that our store is like a museum. In effect, with the Italian Collection sponsored by the Region of Lombardy our store now accommodates many unique pieces. From a certain point of view our 40,000-square-foot showroom looks like a bazaar; yet it contains the cream of Lombard furniture, made with precious woods - mostly elm, walnut, rosewood, heartwood - and in some cases inlaid. Our furniture ranges from ultramodern to modern to classic.
"Cantù Interiors sells perfect reproductions of Art Deco, Renaissance, Louis XIV, or even 13th century pieces with silver panels, veritable works of art handmade by the 15 Cantù artisans grouped in the PAK consortium. Alongside these, we line up great designers of Italian style such as Pininfarina (who also designs Ferraris), Laura Biagiotti, Missoni, Anna Nora, Fabiano Trabucchi, Danilo Bianchi, and Luca Scacchetti. Then we have companies like Martini Designer, OAK - furnishers of Moscow's Kremlin - Turri, Cappelletti, Carpani Salotti, Asnaghi Interiors, and many more."
Pietro Pirrello, called by Italian, Canadian and Russian newspapers 'the ambassador of Italian furniture and design', could go by the name of Peter. Much like St. Peter held the keys of Heaven, Pirrello holds those of North America. He opened this realm to Italian furniture manufacturers for his love of Italy, for that love alone.

Publication Date: 2003-11-30
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3403