Vivai del Sud

Refinement, creativity, managerial skills, qualities featured by  outstanding Roman design studio Vivai del Sud.

The story of Piero, Giorgio and Gianfranco Di Pierri has been told as a perfect example of creativity and managerial skills combined, both qualities originating from their Apulian roots.

In 1964, the Di Pierri move to Rome and concentrate their efforts and inventiveness on landscape architecture.

Their success is almost immediate. Parks gardens, terraces and streets are redesigned combining the century-old Italian tradition with the Di Pierri revolutionary ideas.

The market for their unmatched creativity soon expands to encompass the whole of Italy.

New York and the wealthy Arab Emirates. Their Vivai del Sud (Southern Nurseries) trademark soon became synonymous with new-wave design and sophisticated architectural solution but never disavowed their Southern Italian heritage.

But landscape architectures soon grew too confined to the Di Pierri and in the 1970’s they tackled the alluring market of interior decorations.

Born in the very middle of economic stagnation, their initiative was seen by many as short lived.

But Di Pierri concentrated on a limited production of highly sophisticated, exclusives pieces and their farsighted marketing approach paid off: they opened several branches in foreign countries and soon embarked on the designing of entire, free-standing architectural structures such as hotels, residential areas civic centers etc.

Their activities also expanded to other fields, thus reflecting the eclecticism of their creativity.

They financed the launching of two magazines and several books of poetry.

The Di Pierri also established a foundation dedicated to social and health planning and founded the Italian Chamber od Commerce for West Africa.

But their foremost interest, their greatest love (in spite of few infidelities) remains the design of furniture.

The main source of inspiration is the Italian Baroque, with its mysteries and symbols, combined with reminiscences of classical cultures, a common Mediterranean heritage of sorts.

A well know architecture magazine defined it as a ” rediscovery of beauty as a single, timeless root, now presented with a view to meeting the new needs of today”.

In the 1970’s Rome as been the birthplace of an architectonic wonder named the “Scuola Romana”.

Far apart from the rational and uniforming Milanese trends, Roman architects blended the Baroque traditional elements with very different other pertaining folk cultures that alternated in Mediterranean as : columns, exotic flowers, mythical animals.

It is obviously difficult to define this style nevertheless and actually for this very reason it is unique and unmistakable.

The constant use of materials of great value and natural product carefully avoiding synthetics, as well as the particular care given to the details and to the object’s decorative function render it different from any other.

The style has been defined in a professional magazine for decoration of interiors as “ruling upon wide spaces, large halls, gardens, bath-halls” peculiarie transforming its necessity of large spaces from an otherwise considered limitation into a valuable and characteristic feature.

Ocelot, cheetah and reindeer are the favorite leather unholstery materials.

Crystal, brass and high value materials are largely used in this production.

This expensive style, however, does not show any sign of sale slow-down as round 90% of the production is mainly exported to America, Germany,

Saudi Arabia, Africa, France though Italy, of course, also absorbs a significant market share. (Courtesy of Di Pierri Family)