WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:03.359 The topics and opinions expressed on the following show are solely those of the hosts 2 00:00:03.399 --> 00:00:07.200 and their guests, and not those of W FOURWN Radio It's employees or affiliates. 3 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:11.080 We make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services, or 4 00:00:11.080 --> 00:00:15.240 products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability, explicit or implied 5 00:00:15.320 --> 00:00:19.640 shall be extended to W FOURWN Radio It's employees or affiliates. Any questions or 6 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:22.879 comments should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing W four 7 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:46.920 w N Radio. Hello, and welcome to Fearless Fabulous You. I am 8 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:55.320 your hosts, Melan A Young and it is midsummer in the South of the 9 00:00:55.439 --> 00:01:00.079 United States and everybody's sweltering around the world. But I'm doing just fine because 10 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:03.680 I've learned that no matter what the season, and tell me a year and 11 00:01:03.879 --> 00:01:08.200 make it work for me, because this show is about living life on your 12 00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:14.159 terms and figuring it out when things go bad, making it right when things 13 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:19.280 go right. Share in the good. I love interviewing women entrepreneurs and you 14 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:23.200 know that as you follow the show. I also love to travel, and 15 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:27.640 you know that. And if you follow me and my husband David on the 16 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:32.239 Connected Table our other show. You know that we spend a lot of time 17 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:37.560 in Italy visiting wine regions in the wine part of my life. Well, 18 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:46.480 today's guest has had an ongoing love affair with Italy for forty years, actually 19 00:01:46.519 --> 00:01:51.560 more than forty years. But her company that she founded is celebrating its fortieth 20 00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:56.920 anniversary and it started with a trip as a young girl with her sister and 21 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:01.760 her mom to Italy. Yes, and a dream from that which I found 22 00:02:01.799 --> 00:02:06.519 fascinating. We're going to be talking with Susan Gravelly, who's the founder and 23 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:12.840 CEO of Vietri. It's a lifestyle brand offering in a beautiful handcrafted tableware and 24 00:02:13.080 --> 00:02:17.080 homeware and garden accessories. If you've ever traveled Italy, particularly to Campania, 25 00:02:17.159 --> 00:02:23.919 you will see some of this beautiful artisan pottery and craftware and want to buy 26 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:27.719 it. In fact, when I posted that Susan was going to be on 27 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:30.439 Fearless Fabulous You today, one of my fellow wine writer friends said, oh 28 00:02:30.520 --> 00:02:34.919 my god, I love that stuff. My only fight I got in with 29 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:37.960 my husband was when we went there and I went to linger In shop and 30 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:43.159 he wanted to go to the beach and near Positano. We're talking beautiful, 31 00:02:44.039 --> 00:02:47.800 beautiful dinnerware. But we're here for more than just to talk about housing, 32 00:02:47.800 --> 00:02:51.120 because if you also know, I'm not a home person. I'm dealing with 33 00:02:51.159 --> 00:02:53.960 a home right now that I just inherited and trying to figure out how to 34 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:59.360 declutter it. But we're going to talk about what I consider an amazing entrepreneur 35 00:02:59.479 --> 00:03:02.280 story and a love affair with a country that I adore as well, and 36 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:07.000 a new book that Susan has written called Italy on a Late It is really 37 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:10.960 a heavy, beautiful book, gift book if you have friends who love Italy. 38 00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:20.240 It's park memoir, park travel and menus and gorgeous pictures. Susan is 39 00:03:20.280 --> 00:03:24.080 a fellow Southerner. She is joining me from the beach in North Carolina, 40 00:03:24.120 --> 00:03:29.039 where I hope the weather is more beautiful than where it is here in Shadanooga, 41 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:32.319 Tennessee, where it has been pouring. Susan Graveley, Welcome to Fearless, 42 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:38.879 Fabulous You and Melanie. Thank you for having me. I'm really really 43 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:43.120 happy to be talking to you today. But a lot of my friends, 44 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:47.120 you know, adore you and follow you and around the country, and I 45 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:53.719 reference my friend Lisa, you have a great success story, and we'll get 46 00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:57.520 to that. But first, you know, you're in North Carolina, where 47 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:00.199 before the show I was saying, a lot of my friends are moving because 48 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:03.840 it is such a beautiful state. You grew up in North Carolina, well, 49 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:08.199 and you had quite the family life. Your dad worked in the tobacco 50 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:13.520 business. Your mother entertained quite beautifully. Tell us about your childhood. I 51 00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:17.399 like my listeners to get to know the person on the air from their youth. 52 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:25.000 Well, I did have a really interesting childhood. I grew up in 53 00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:29.600 Rocky Mount, North Carolina, which is the eastern part of the state, 54 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:34.279 the real farming part of the state, filled with small towns. So going 55 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:39.399 to Raleigh at Capitol was like going to Washington or New York for others. 56 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:47.879 We grew up in a town where every set of parents had their right and 57 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:54.319 privilege to parent us like our own parents. So there were forty sets of 58 00:04:54.399 --> 00:04:59.399 parents that praised us, that told us to go home and tell our mothers 59 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:04.399 what we had one and encouraged this, and that was a pretty amazing upbringing. 60 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:11.360 The second part that was pretty amazing is that with my father being in 61 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:17.519 a third generation to Bacca company, which bought and sold burly burly is the 62 00:05:17.639 --> 00:05:23.000 sweet part of cigarettes. And you can imagine it. From the nineteen hundred 63 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:30.079 to their early seventies, everybody smoked, and we would have foreigners in our 64 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:35.040 home all the time. That was not during the tobacco season when they were 65 00:05:35.079 --> 00:05:43.360 all in Georgia. We had a stand up globe and Daddy would say, 66 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:46.560 d people are coming from Cairo, or they're coming from Zimbabwe, or they're 67 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:54.199 coming from China, or they're coming from Italy. And look at where Rome 68 00:05:54.439 --> 00:06:00.959 is, and look where Raleigh. Drma would look where Rocky Mount is. 69 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:06.480 We're only a plane trip or a phone call away. The world is so 70 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:15.319 small, and so I grew up with this feeling of a smaller world that 71 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:19.560 you could get to. As a child. The only way that I could 72 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:26.279 sit and listen to the adults was to serve drinks that my father would make, 73 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:30.439 or serve the cigarette types that they were smoking, and sit and not 74 00:06:30.680 --> 00:06:35.920 say a word and left spoken to and were my nice Sunday dress. So 75 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:45.800 that's how I grew up listening to all these conversations and learning about different cultures 76 00:06:45.959 --> 00:06:50.600 and then setting the table with my mother. We had lots of dinnerware we 77 00:06:50.680 --> 00:06:55.959 had lots of place mats and napkins, and she loved to do flowers, 78 00:06:56.040 --> 00:07:01.120 and so depending upon the season, I would set the table with her and 79 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:06.480 learned how to set a table, and then she would prepare usually you know, 80 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:13.199 bilet and baked potatoes and spirits, or a seasonal vegetable and then either 81 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:19.399 a pecan pie or homemade from scratch, you know, chocolate cake with hot 82 00:07:19.399 --> 00:07:26.720 milk cake and chocolate icing. And we got to sit at the table and 83 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:32.759 listen. So that was my early years, and that was the beginning of 84 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:41.519 understanding that the world was small. I think that's so interesting, you know, 85 00:07:41.879 --> 00:07:45.040 as you talk, Susan, I think about my own family, you 86 00:07:45.079 --> 00:07:48.759 know, from the South, and my grandmother had all sorts of table where 87 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:54.800 for every season and coverings, and it was very elaborate, and my mother 88 00:07:54.839 --> 00:08:03.639 inherited that. And as I now, if in December and I'm going through 89 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:07.920 all this tableware, going my god, and the and the fabrics and the 90 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:13.360 patterns. My goodness, because you know, I lived in New York most 91 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:16.560 of my adult life in a very small apartment. We didn't have a lot. 92 00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:22.079 It's wonderful tradition of bringing people in your home and how lucky you were, 93 00:08:22.519 --> 00:08:31.160 Susan to have that entree to the world, all these global guests coming. 94 00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:35.200 And I can see your father in that globe because my parents traveled around 95 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:37.080 the world. When I was a little girl, they went around the world 96 00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:43.360 and left me with my grandmother and they gave me a globe and I would 97 00:08:43.399 --> 00:08:50.320 follow their trep on my globe right exactly. And I don't know if I 98 00:08:50.360 --> 00:08:54.919 think I'm a little older than you are. But when when Daddy would call 99 00:08:54.080 --> 00:09:00.879 us, it would be a set time through an operator, and we would 100 00:09:00.919 --> 00:09:09.000 wait all day for that call, and it was always collect And then also 101 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:16.720 he would he would sail by ship many times over and meet these glamorous people. 102 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:20.799 And Daddy was very charismatic, very handsome. My mother tells the funny 103 00:09:20.840 --> 00:09:24.639 story about the first time she went to New York to wave him goodbye, 104 00:09:24.759 --> 00:09:28.559 and they were newlyweds, and you know, he was waving to her, 105 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:35.639 and she never saw him because she saw sitting standing there in the boat carry 106 00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:41.120 grant, and that was the carry Grant time. And Daddy was furious that 107 00:09:41.559 --> 00:09:46.559 she wasn't looking at him. But you know, those were glamorous years, 108 00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:54.879 and the whole essence of work was very male dominated. There was a woman, 109 00:09:56.159 --> 00:10:00.559 believe it or not, in Rhodesia that became the first and only woman 110 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:05.519 in the world to work in tobacco, and her son and his family ended 111 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:11.600 up moving to Chapel Hill and they're great friends of mine. So it created, 112 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:16.440 like with your parents, a smaller world with friends all over the world 113 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:24.000 as well. So I feel very lucky to have had that upbringing and have 114 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:31.240 tried very hard to encourage travel and broadening those that array of people you meet, 115 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:37.919 especially women's relationships, and make it more global. Well, that kind 116 00:10:37.960 --> 00:10:41.120 of set the stage a little kind of a foundation for what you have was 117 00:10:41.159 --> 00:10:46.159 just truly a global company. Now, unfortunately you lost your father at a 118 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:50.399 at a fairly he was fairly young, and he was very young, yeah, 119 00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:54.799 very young. And you so your mother was a widow with two daughters, 120 00:10:54.960 --> 00:11:00.600 right, three daughters actually, and for two daughters and two sons, 121 00:11:00.840 --> 00:11:05.039 that's right, four children, Okay, yes, and that's hard back then, 122 00:11:05.159 --> 00:11:07.519 I mean, you know, this is this is a different time. 123 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:13.559 So she's got four children, she's a widow, and when did you take 124 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:24.360 that faithful trip to Italy with her? So what happened was Daddy um as 125 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:28.799 a little boy had rheumatic fever and that always impacts your heart valves. And 126 00:11:28.919 --> 00:11:35.279 so when he got to be about fifty three, he started having to have 127 00:11:35.799 --> 00:11:41.039 to replace his mitral valve. And it was so new in medicine that they 128 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:46.679 gave him a children's valve and it took three different valves to get it, 129 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:52.480 so it worked three different surgeries, which had a huge, you know effect 130 00:11:52.519 --> 00:11:58.240 on his help for many years, but he got it back. Believe it 131 00:11:58.360 --> 00:12:03.480 or not, was down in valve us to Georgia, introducing the Italian conglomerate 132 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:09.200 because tobacco was owned by the government. Two the new owners of Katco, 133 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:16.080 the tobacco company because he was selling it, came back. Felt badly called 134 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:22.360 my three siblings didn't know where I was because I was working somewhere else and 135 00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:28.960 had a heart attack and died that night. The difficult part of was what 136 00:12:28.120 --> 00:12:35.759 you said. My mother was fifty five years old with four children. What 137 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:43.200 ages were you all then? We were thirty two, twenty nine, twenty 138 00:12:43.399 --> 00:12:54.840 seven, and eighteen. And Daddy had kind of said to us, always 139 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:01.120 do not expect anything, because I promise you everything I've saved. I want 140 00:13:01.159 --> 00:13:05.600 you a mother to spend every penny, and so that was a lovely thing 141 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:11.600 to say to us, because all we wanted was her happiness. And she 142 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:18.360 asked my sister and me to take the trip she and Daddy had planned to 143 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:24.039 take before he died, and so it was a trip that we would never 144 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:28.120 have been able to afford. And for the rest of her life, whenever 145 00:13:28.200 --> 00:13:31.759 she called the four of us, two of us, whoever, and said 146 00:13:33.240 --> 00:13:35.879 I want to take this trip where you go, we would stop everything and 147 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:41.240 go with her. Because their attitude was if you can't travel, and your 148 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:43.200 parents were the same way, you can't travel better than being at home, 149 00:13:43.320 --> 00:13:50.799 why leaves? And so we were able to run into people that Mom and 150 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:56.679 Daddy knew, or go to places that were extraordinarily beautiful. And this was 151 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:07.480 the trip that Mama invited us to in nineteen eighty three, to fly to 152 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:11.919 the Room, then to the Mouth Because, then to Florence, then to 153 00:14:11.080 --> 00:14:16.480 Venice and home, and that's when we came upon Edge and Aware and decided 154 00:14:16.519 --> 00:14:24.159 to start a company. Now it's obviously you at that time, Susan, 155 00:14:24.279 --> 00:14:30.240 did you have a were you working doing something else? Oh? Absolutely, 156 00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:33.159 I have worked since I was fourteen. I was the kind of child that 157 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:41.159 would you know, have lemonade stands, or would help somebody at a camp, 158 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:43.080 you know, with handicapped children. I was always on the go. 159 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:50.840 I was always volunteering or doing whatever. And at that point I graduated from 160 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:56.720 college. I had gone to Boston and worked for an architectural firm because I 161 00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:01.960 love design. But I was a secretary, the worst secretary in the world 162 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:07.159 because I cannot proof reread, but the best as far as socially organizing those 163 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:11.960 guys, and they were mostly fellows at that time. But I volunteered at 164 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:18.720 Boston Children's Hospital and I came upon and was mentored by a woman named Anita 165 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:26.440 Oles, who started the pediatric play program at Boston Children's Hospital. And I 166 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:37.000 was so taken by how play create a venue for a child to express their 167 00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:43.000 pain or worry that I started my master's at Ratcliffe. Daddy got sick, 168 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:50.840 I flew home and finished at UNC, and then started the outpatient pediatric play 169 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:56.480 program at Duke. How value pediatrics a totally different world. I did that, 170 00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:00.399 but it was during a time where I was aiding a medical student. 171 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:07.320 My father was having surgeries, and my focus was on failure to thrive infants, 172 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:15.000 and after about three years I burned out. Wow I UM then went 173 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:23.279 into retail just for fun and worked with a great gal and um ended up 174 00:16:23.720 --> 00:16:30.320 with her opening three retail stores. I was the one hiring training, being 175 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:37.159 the you know, the the salesperson, while she bought and was the glamorous 176 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:44.879 you know owner. But it was great fun. I then had a personal 177 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:52.480 trauma. I was raped by an unknown person in my house and in your 178 00:16:52.519 --> 00:16:55.840 house? Was it? He was unknown, So it was a break in 179 00:16:56.799 --> 00:17:02.000 total break in midle of the night through a window in the bathrooms, And 180 00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:11.720 that really changed my life. I went from an independent thinking go out any 181 00:17:11.720 --> 00:17:15.279 time day or night, felt safe, was always cautious, of course, 182 00:17:15.319 --> 00:17:21.160 to someone who on the outside still looked outgoing and great. But boy, 183 00:17:21.240 --> 00:17:25.359 when the lights went out at night, I couldn't move. I could no 184 00:17:25.480 --> 00:17:30.839 more walk down a street in Little Chapel Hills than anything. But what it 185 00:17:30.920 --> 00:17:36.720 did is it changed the compass of my life and I ended up going back 186 00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:40.079 up. I went to New York and went to the New York School of 187 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:48.480 Design to be invisible. I just needed some time to breathe and be invisible. 188 00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:55.440 And after I finished, that was when Mama called and said, would 189 00:17:55.519 --> 00:17:59.440 like to take this trip? Would you and Francis go with me? And 190 00:17:59.480 --> 00:18:06.119 there we went to Italy and happened upon this dinnerware and met this lovely man 191 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:11.440 and started a company. So from bad comes good, right, it's all 192 00:18:11.480 --> 00:18:15.279 about. First of all, I'm sorry that you went through such a traumatic 193 00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:22.920 experience. I can only imagine how that would instill fearing me and distrust a 194 00:18:22.920 --> 00:18:27.920 lot of things, including going out and being alone. You know, the 195 00:18:27.960 --> 00:18:32.839 fact that was in your own home. Though, would I don't know how 196 00:18:32.839 --> 00:18:36.200 I would react if I was attacked in my own home. I don't know 197 00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:41.440 if I would no longer why I probably Susan would want to burn down that 198 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:45.799 home. That's coming back, how yeah, yeah, yeah, well you 199 00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:52.200 know, I think I come from again, a very pragmatic and realistic parents, 200 00:18:52.359 --> 00:18:57.319 who of course came up the next morning. But the at my father's 201 00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:03.440 approach was well what are we gonna do about it? Versus showing anger, 202 00:19:03.559 --> 00:19:07.279 And it was well, we're going to try to get him and to go 203 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:12.359 to court, which we did and he pleaded guilty, But but it was 204 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:18.359 never now. I didn't go back to that hyn. I never slept in 205 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:22.559 that hymn again because it was too frightening. I've rented it, of course, 206 00:19:22.839 --> 00:19:29.720 and it took it took a long time to even talk about it. 207 00:19:30.359 --> 00:19:37.839 But I find now how important it is when we who have been successful in 208 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:45.240 whatever you define success, that we let everyone know that we didn't have a 209 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:52.440 perfect life either. Maybe my childhood was perfect and perfect. My father was 210 00:19:52.599 --> 00:20:00.160 extremely strict and demanding on us because he saw it a little bit like um, 211 00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:07.839 you know, the doa deer female deer, the family of von Trapp 212 00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:11.920 family, where we were supposed to be perfect with people that visited, but 213 00:20:11.960 --> 00:20:17.000 we were just children right right. But anyway, and now bring it up 214 00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:25.400 often because often and speeches, because I want people to know that we all 215 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:30.119 are vulnerable, even when we are the most protective of their laughs, and 216 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:34.640 we can all survive. It's a very good point. And I've interviewed a 217 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:41.720 lot of women who have gone through incredible trauma. I tend to gravitate to 218 00:20:41.960 --> 00:20:47.680 them in some kind and the level of inspiration that they have brought to this 219 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:52.720 show in rebuilding their lives and doing really amazing things. I mean, I'm 220 00:20:52.759 --> 00:20:56.759 thinking about it a couple of them right now, and it's and from it. 221 00:20:56.880 --> 00:21:02.440 I find it's interesting, Susan. With everyone I've interviewed who've gone through 222 00:21:02.519 --> 00:21:11.119 some trauma, how they rebuild has an interesting way of developed also what happened 223 00:21:11.160 --> 00:21:14.400 so in your case, and I'll give you an example. You know, 224 00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:18.440 I interviewed someone who was homeless most of your years and abused in foster homes 225 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:22.599 and she became a leading owner of an interior design school. So she went 226 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:27.920 from having no home. Right, So you've built a business that helps make 227 00:21:27.960 --> 00:21:33.480 a home a beautiful place. You grew up in a beautiful home with beautiful 228 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:37.160 things. Clearly you had a privileged life, but you also experience one of 229 00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:45.319 the most traumatic experiences of your life in what was your home? Right? 230 00:21:45.960 --> 00:21:48.839 And so you've reconciled home. And one of the last questions I have and 231 00:21:48.920 --> 00:21:57.039 how do you define as home? For many is a buildings. In fact, 232 00:21:57.039 --> 00:22:00.119 I'm going to ask you this now before we get into place. Find 233 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:04.680 given everything that you've gone through and that you have a leading company theatry that 234 00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:08.039 makes it home, We're beautiful. It is it is a built around the 235 00:22:08.039 --> 00:22:21.200 home your product, rightw do you define home? I define home in a 236 00:22:21.319 --> 00:22:26.720 lot of ways, about being around a table, about a gathering place a 237 00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:30.640 and I use the table as a metaphor, and I loved it when you 238 00:22:30.680 --> 00:22:37.759 were describing your companies. You know, it's gat It's a place where you 239 00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:44.960 walk into, whether it's your physical home or your emotional home, where there 240 00:22:45.160 --> 00:22:53.240 is comfort and there is caring, and you feel cared for and you feel 241 00:22:53.240 --> 00:23:03.839 loved. And I see that place as very diverse, with it not mattering 242 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:08.759 one bit if you're pink, green or orange, what your faith is, 243 00:23:08.839 --> 00:23:15.680 what your political views are. But it's a place where you feel safe to 244 00:23:15.880 --> 00:23:25.440 express yourselves. And I feel that way about my home and about gathering and 245 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:33.359 eating together and being together around a table. I like to think that people 246 00:23:33.559 --> 00:23:41.039 leave our home having had a wonderful time and maybe learning something they didn't know, 247 00:23:41.799 --> 00:23:47.839 or meeting somebody they had they would like to see again, or just 248 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:53.960 being satisfied with the time spent. Many of us are tired, we are 249 00:23:55.119 --> 00:24:00.839 overtired, We work hard to balance, and you just don't want to really 250 00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:03.440 go out, even if it's going to be a wonderful night. How wonderful 251 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:07.920 when you go out and you leave and think, thank goodness, I was 252 00:24:07.960 --> 00:24:15.000 there. What a special place? However you define special right So that's home 253 00:24:15.119 --> 00:24:22.559 for me. You know. Home is home is where I want to be. 254 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:26.599 I want to be in Florence in an apartment we ran, or I 255 00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:30.480 want to be here at the beach, or I want to be in my 256 00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:36.400 house much more than going out to a restaurant, you know. I want 257 00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:45.480 to bring life together in a place where everyone is comfortable. So that's that's 258 00:24:45.559 --> 00:24:48.640 home for me. I think it's a great example. I lived in New 259 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:52.359 York in a small apartment, which was not home. New York was home, 260 00:24:52.440 --> 00:24:56.240 but I spent a lot of time leaving. I spent much of my 261 00:24:56.319 --> 00:25:00.680 life leaving. And before the show, I was telling this Susan A inherited 262 00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:03.680 a house my mother and fathers, and I'm grappling with it being their home 263 00:25:03.720 --> 00:25:10.160 and not mine and how to turn it into you know, And so a 264 00:25:10.279 --> 00:25:14.400 home for me is where I can gather around a table, wherever I am 265 00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:18.720 with friends, and also where I can sleep in peace, because I'm a 266 00:25:18.759 --> 00:25:22.319 big if I can't sleep in peace because I have been living on the road 267 00:25:22.359 --> 00:25:26.599 for two years. I sold my home in August twenty twenty and have lived 268 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:30.039 on the road as a nomad for two years. I've slept in a lot 269 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:33.119 of guest room Susan. I could write a book the better way to have 270 00:25:33.160 --> 00:25:37.599 a guest room, but it's been creating. So I had to come home 271 00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:42.000 to care for a mother, and that was it was weird. I'm learning 272 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:45.640 to adjust to the concept of home, which is why I wanted to ask 273 00:25:45.640 --> 00:25:49.400 you that question, because it is so much more than what many people sometimes 274 00:25:49.400 --> 00:25:52.599 think. It's just the showpiece, you know, the structure. It's such 275 00:25:52.599 --> 00:25:56.799 a state of mind. It's a state of mind. And you know, 276 00:25:56.920 --> 00:26:02.559 I would say to you, hey, four rooms that you think you're going 277 00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:06.680 to spend a lot of time and just paying them creamy white, not dead 278 00:26:06.759 --> 00:26:11.720 white, but a white was a little bit of warmth and start over unless 279 00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:15.279 what we're trying to do. That's what we're trying to do. It's a 280 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:18.920 little complicated in this took her house, but I have taken all the paintings 281 00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:22.720 and I love. I basically moved everything into my childhood bedroom, got a 282 00:26:22.759 --> 00:26:25.920 better bed, and put all our paintings. That everything I love is in 283 00:26:25.960 --> 00:26:27.640 my bedroom. Because my mother died in one room, my father died another 284 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:32.799 room, so it's kind of creepy, you know. So we we're basically 285 00:26:32.839 --> 00:26:37.240 taking three areas of this fairly large house and making it ours the dining room, 286 00:26:37.799 --> 00:26:41.799 the living room, in my bedroom, and then then we travel a 287 00:26:41.799 --> 00:26:45.640 lot. So let's get back to I love the fact your sister Francis sounds 288 00:26:45.640 --> 00:26:48.759 like a really fun person. I mean, you are too, But she 289 00:26:48.960 --> 00:26:51.039 was like went to the she's like me. She had to go to the 290 00:26:51.079 --> 00:26:53.160 bathroom on a plane and just had to go first class to go to the 291 00:26:53.200 --> 00:26:57.519 bathroom, which is something I would do. And she chats up this man 292 00:26:57.960 --> 00:27:02.680 Fabio, which is I would do, because the drink cart was in her 293 00:27:02.720 --> 00:27:07.880 way. So that man was kind of like a good fortune guy because you're 294 00:27:07.880 --> 00:27:12.240 still he helped you when you got to Italy and then you're got robbed. 295 00:27:14.119 --> 00:27:18.960 He did. He Fabia Puccinelli was his name, and we've gotten to know 296 00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:26.160 very very well now. But he came back after he met Francis to meet 297 00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:32.279 this mother and two daughters. Very fascinated with that, and in conversation gave 298 00:27:32.359 --> 00:27:36.960 us names of three restaurants in Rome and his phone number and said, oh, 299 00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:41.319 please call when you're in Florence. Well, we thanked him very much. 300 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:45.079 We tried the restaurants. They were fabulous, and never ever would we 301 00:27:45.160 --> 00:27:52.599 have called him accept we had Mama's pocketbook stolen. So we went from Rome 302 00:27:52.799 --> 00:27:56.039 down to the amount he coast, which I'm sure we'll talk about where we 303 00:27:56.720 --> 00:28:03.400 had this idea of a company. But when we got to Florence in a 304 00:28:03.640 --> 00:28:07.839 southern way, my mother said, okay, to remember the trip. I 305 00:28:07.880 --> 00:28:11.519 want to value all a piece of jewelry. That's what you kind of do. 306 00:28:11.799 --> 00:28:17.880 And those are the years of only cash and traveler's checks. So Mama 307 00:28:18.039 --> 00:28:22.279 had all of it, plus the passports. We roamed ponte Vecchio and up 308 00:28:22.359 --> 00:28:29.200 that via Guiciardini, didn't see anything yet, but had dinner at this lovely 309 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:33.200 restaurant, drank a couple of miles of wine, toasting Daddy, toasting Mama 310 00:28:33.400 --> 00:28:38.359 talking about how lucky we were, came out, had a one and only 311 00:28:38.519 --> 00:28:44.400 argument. It was a moonlight evening. Francis and I wanted to walk back 312 00:28:44.440 --> 00:28:48.599 to the hotel. Mama wanted a taxi. She lost, and then walking 313 00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:56.839 down a cobbled stone way, too small street and not lit well, two 314 00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:06.079 motorcyclists came by and Mama grabbed her pocketwork and we lost everything. So we 315 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:08.920 then went to the police station, and as you I hope don't know. 316 00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:17.000 Spending time in an Italian police station is not your best use of time. 317 00:29:17.720 --> 00:29:21.359 And after two or three hours it was sure, it's one button to debt 318 00:29:21.359 --> 00:29:23.400 and they were flirting with Francis and me, who were young at the time. 319 00:29:23.559 --> 00:29:27.960 And at the end of that the next morning, Mama said, let's 320 00:29:29.039 --> 00:29:33.160 call that nice gentleman on the plane in Fabio, which we did, and 321 00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:38.119 he happened to be there, which he now will tell us always that he 322 00:29:38.200 --> 00:29:41.680 was there because he knew we were going to be in Florence, because he's 323 00:29:41.720 --> 00:29:47.160 a big fisherman. He picked us up, he helped us get passport, 324 00:29:47.400 --> 00:29:52.160 he lent us money, and at the end of lunch he said, and 325 00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:55.599 Mamma, where do you want to go? And she goes, I'm dying 326 00:29:55.680 --> 00:30:00.920 to see the leaning Tower of Pizza. So all we go to see the 327 00:30:00.039 --> 00:30:06.799 leaning Tower of Tiza. We spend all afternoon, have dinner, and then 328 00:30:07.640 --> 00:30:11.680 since we've told him about our twelve plates, in this dream, we end 329 00:30:11.799 --> 00:30:19.640 up in the hills over Florence, going down this long driveway to a beautiful 330 00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:25.759 villa and knocking on the door of this beautiful home that was one of his 331 00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:30.880 best friends, Tita Uzilli. The first chapter of the book, and she 332 00:30:30.200 --> 00:30:37.240 has worked for Macy's and she goes fabulous designs, but the factory their crooks. 333 00:30:37.559 --> 00:30:41.400 I wouldn't do it. And that was the beginning, and we thought 334 00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:45.559 at the end, you know, well why not give it a try. 335 00:30:45.960 --> 00:30:49.000 You know, Southern women, we can do a lot of things. Of 336 00:30:49.079 --> 00:30:53.559 course, we gave it a try, and here we are forty years later, 337 00:30:53.680 --> 00:31:00.839 and Tita continues to be a wonderful friend and early the mentor, well, 338 00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:07.200 I love Tita. Just to underscore every chapter, you start with a 339 00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:11.079 family or a dear friend, and many of are have been involved in Vatri 340 00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:15.200 for a while, or personal friends. I loved you know. I've been 341 00:31:15.279 --> 00:31:25.000 to Campania several times on wine trips, and where it all started. You 342 00:31:25.119 --> 00:31:29.839 named that. You named Vatri after the village where the first pottery. I 343 00:31:29.920 --> 00:31:33.839 call it pottery, but it's plate ware YE made. And you, like 344 00:31:34.039 --> 00:31:37.680 you guys, had no experience an import export, which I's unfascinating because I'd 345 00:31:37.680 --> 00:31:44.440 love to start an import poses myself. But something did the research you right 346 00:31:44.880 --> 00:31:52.160 since break you got like a postage stamp area, and I could I usually 347 00:31:52.200 --> 00:31:55.000 as you wrote this, I could see this because I got the fancy food 348 00:31:55.440 --> 00:31:57.839 and I know those small booths. You got this tiny, little but well 349 00:31:57.920 --> 00:32:02.359 situated at the trans display area, and you did everything right. You got 350 00:32:02.359 --> 00:32:06.720 to tell you waiters, sister Prosecco. You did everything and you ended up 351 00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:09.279 catching the eye of Name and Marcus. Let's talk about can you believe it? 352 00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:14.880 Well episode, yeah, somebody like remote, but you got Name and 353 00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:17.400 Marcus and they loved it. There you go. Life was good. You 354 00:32:17.480 --> 00:32:22.440 know, you can look at your career path and say, oh, yes, 355 00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:24.400 it was a lot of luck. There's there is luck involved. There's 356 00:32:24.440 --> 00:32:29.720 a lot of hard work, as you know involved. But but this was 357 00:32:29.920 --> 00:32:35.880 one of those lucky moments. We had were told we could the show was 358 00:32:36.039 --> 00:32:38.839 completely sold out. I had spoken to mister Wolf. I said, please 359 00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:43.279 just let me show you my plates. They're coming in in six months, 360 00:32:43.319 --> 00:32:46.759 I have you know, this is their chance to start selling, and can 361 00:32:46.880 --> 00:32:51.839 I just come and bring them to you tomorrow. I was in North Carolina, 362 00:32:51.880 --> 00:32:54.559 but I told him I could need him in New York that next day. 363 00:32:54.599 --> 00:32:58.880 When he said yes, I quickly got a plane ticket and went up. 364 00:32:59.759 --> 00:33:05.160 We were right beside the registration desk and friends had brought a table in 365 00:33:05.240 --> 00:33:08.200 a hutch and it looked great. And Mom and I were standing there and 366 00:33:08.279 --> 00:33:16.759 here come these very well dressed threesome who walked barra booth and looking those were 367 00:33:16.799 --> 00:33:22.039 the days where they did not wear any kind of signage to know who they 368 00:33:22.079 --> 00:33:27.240 were. And ask a few questions, and then this woman said, we'd 369 00:33:27.240 --> 00:33:30.880 like to place an order. This is what we'd like to do. And 370 00:33:30.920 --> 00:33:37.960 the order totaled up to twelve thousand dollars and twelve million dollars and that was 371 00:33:38.559 --> 00:33:45.200 Neiman Marcus and they have been an account of hours, four four to years. 372 00:33:45.279 --> 00:33:49.559 That's just an incredible story. I mean, I believe it. I 373 00:33:49.640 --> 00:33:53.880 believe hard work, luck and serendipity, those are there. You go, 374 00:33:54.720 --> 00:33:59.000 and you know I'm Southern two. You don't give up. I mean, 375 00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:04.240 you know you're fairly. That's wasn't fabulous because I just would not give up. 376 00:34:04.279 --> 00:34:07.079 And I've been knocked down enough times where I just keep bopping up. 377 00:34:07.119 --> 00:34:10.440 Sometimes I'm a maze, but I'm curious. You know, I'm a shark 378 00:34:10.519 --> 00:34:14.840 tank addict. So I have to ask how you managed to scale the business 379 00:34:14.840 --> 00:34:16.719 because I know one of your challenges and the and the woman you met with 380 00:34:16.800 --> 00:34:21.400 in Florence said be careful first of all their crooks. You got to get 381 00:34:21.480 --> 00:34:25.639 in partnership and collaborate with people that you know have a way of doing things 382 00:34:25.800 --> 00:34:30.719 their way. We know the Italians, they're setting their way, and you've 383 00:34:30.719 --> 00:34:34.920 got American businesses that are like, I need it by this date and need 384 00:34:34.960 --> 00:34:40.039 this quantity. How did you manage to scale and bridge that tradition with contemporary 385 00:34:40.039 --> 00:34:44.639 business needs where it's like meet this deadline or you're going to use the account 386 00:34:45.519 --> 00:34:50.199 right. Well, the first thing we did, Melanie, is we set 387 00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:58.280 our mission and vision to always be on the luxury high indside good of tabletop 388 00:34:58.480 --> 00:35:04.880 and decorative accessories. And what that meant for us also was to start with 389 00:35:05.039 --> 00:35:10.239 specialty stores. In nineteen eighty three, when we started, every small town 390 00:35:10.280 --> 00:35:16.639 everywhere had a beautiful gift store. You know, Bridle was really big at 391 00:35:16.639 --> 00:35:22.239 the time, and there were a scattering of large department stores. That's how 392 00:35:22.239 --> 00:35:30.239 we started, so we built with The first sales trip I went on was 393 00:35:30.440 --> 00:35:32.800 going down to a wedding in see Allen, Georgia. My mother and I 394 00:35:32.920 --> 00:35:39.719 drove down. We stopped in every nice town or city on the way down. 395 00:35:40.480 --> 00:35:46.239 Found went to the nicest clothing store and asked them what was the nicest 396 00:35:46.239 --> 00:35:51.000 gift store in town, and then we would go there and I would go 397 00:35:51.079 --> 00:35:58.960 in with my basket of plates and my prices. We limited the number of 398 00:35:59.119 --> 00:36:04.480 counts we had in the beginning to build our inventory, and we did not 399 00:36:04.639 --> 00:36:08.519 go with sales reps until we could build their inventory. And then we started 400 00:36:08.519 --> 00:36:15.039 with reps from Seattle, Washington. I went the longest place I knew I 401 00:36:15.039 --> 00:36:20.119 could not get to to test what it was like to work with reps. 402 00:36:20.599 --> 00:36:25.239 So I scaled in the beginning according to what I could get in inventory. 403 00:36:27.000 --> 00:36:37.559 With time I found out about gift shows. Fabio became our sales agent in 404 00:36:37.760 --> 00:36:40.199 Italy. He had never worked today and of his life. We found out 405 00:36:40.239 --> 00:36:46.400 he was from royal background, and he did it out of love for what 406 00:36:46.440 --> 00:36:51.960 we were doing and for nothing else. So for eight years I was either 407 00:36:52.079 --> 00:36:58.079 working full time, you know, twenty hours a day at home or over 408 00:36:58.159 --> 00:37:04.440 there, traveling with him, going from town from factory to factory, looking 409 00:37:04.480 --> 00:37:09.119 at product and kind of building this look, building a dhry look. So 410 00:37:09.920 --> 00:37:16.639 we grew the company according to the amount of product and the look we had, 411 00:37:17.239 --> 00:37:22.800 and so we were doubling in size every year. Of course, you 412 00:37:22.840 --> 00:37:27.480 know we you know, we did three hundred thousand dollars the first year, 413 00:37:27.719 --> 00:37:30.599 unheard of. We went to a million dollars, We went to a two 414 00:37:30.679 --> 00:37:35.159 million dollars, and up and up and up, and then when it became 415 00:37:35.400 --> 00:37:43.599 the size where we had to scale really largely, we we really scaled always 416 00:37:43.639 --> 00:37:52.159 according to what we could get without undermining the luxury market. So we chose 417 00:37:52.440 --> 00:37:59.000 not to go into mass markets. And that's what we've done, and it's 418 00:37:59.480 --> 00:38:04.039 it's fair very well for us. It's a really good strategy. You know, 419 00:38:04.039 --> 00:38:07.800 a lot of luxury companies, brands, particularly in the fashion world right 420 00:38:08.360 --> 00:38:13.679 they have had to go into the they called the bridgeline or mass market because 421 00:38:13.719 --> 00:38:17.000 they can't sell their luxury market goods fast enough. And we all know those 422 00:38:17.119 --> 00:38:23.760 names. There are many. You're lucky you're able to do it in this 423 00:38:23.880 --> 00:38:30.159 area and at a time when I am told many young people are not buying 424 00:38:30.400 --> 00:38:36.159 china and nice things now for the table, I mean at the local Fisher 425 00:38:36.239 --> 00:38:42.039 Evans and Chattanooga shutting down their china department. Yeah, uh, do you 426 00:38:42.079 --> 00:38:46.159 find for And you've been a business forty years running, Va Tree, have 427 00:38:46.480 --> 00:38:52.840 tastes changed? Has the client changed? You know? Really, before the 428 00:38:52.840 --> 00:38:57.599 pandemic, I would have been saying yes to all of what you're saying. 429 00:38:58.440 --> 00:39:02.039 And now I would say this than a real resurgence of being at home and 430 00:39:02.199 --> 00:39:07.960 dining at home. And before the pandemic, you know, there was just 431 00:39:07.239 --> 00:39:12.360 young people making so much money. It was just unbelievable, and all they 432 00:39:12.360 --> 00:39:15.920 were doing was eating out. Their houses were painted white, they probably had 433 00:39:15.960 --> 00:39:22.159 two plates, two mugs that were given to them, and they were very 434 00:39:22.239 --> 00:39:28.519 mentalmalistic. They spent their money on fashion and a look. You know, 435 00:39:28.519 --> 00:39:31.400 it was what do I look like? In what restaurants am I going to? 436 00:39:31.719 --> 00:39:37.960 Well, then we all had to be home, so people reassessed their 437 00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:43.039 homes and suddenly they got back too. We need to cook at home, 438 00:39:43.119 --> 00:39:47.239 so let's cook something delicious. Let's be at home. Let's set a table. 439 00:39:47.480 --> 00:39:52.679 How do you set a table? Amazingly many young people did not know 440 00:39:52.760 --> 00:40:01.559 how to set a table. Well, this is continued to transcend into warning 441 00:40:01.760 --> 00:40:09.519 a pretty table or combining things that their parents have given them with new minimalist 442 00:40:09.599 --> 00:40:15.880 things. I really believe that a table does not have to be formal or 443 00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:21.119 casual. It does not need to be everything looking alike. A mix and 444 00:40:21.280 --> 00:40:27.039 match is always more interesting and you don't have to stress over it. You 445 00:40:27.119 --> 00:40:30.360 do not have to stress over cooking. You can make a few things and 446 00:40:30.480 --> 00:40:35.559 bring in a few things, right. You can light some candles and have 447 00:40:35.960 --> 00:40:39.800 an apperall sprits and some good wine and you are a happy camper. But 448 00:40:40.360 --> 00:40:45.679 there is this, especially in the South. The bride has come back and 449 00:40:45.760 --> 00:40:52.119 abandoned and abundance, and they are buying again. Now they know what we 450 00:40:52.199 --> 00:41:00.440 sell is not porcelain. So the fine fine China's struggle those some of them 451 00:41:00.440 --> 00:41:04.920 are coming back the whole time. China look is coming back. But we 452 00:41:05.039 --> 00:41:14.000 sold better stonewares and ceramics that you could mix and match and create your own 453 00:41:14.440 --> 00:41:17.400 look. Well, they're very fun. The designs are incredible, I mean 454 00:41:17.760 --> 00:41:22.079 their eye catching. Um, they're fun. I happen to love pottery. 455 00:41:22.559 --> 00:41:25.760 Thank god, my mother did too. I've inherited a lot of purple pottery. 456 00:41:25.840 --> 00:41:28.840 She loved purple. So I have a lot of purple pottery, but 457 00:41:28.880 --> 00:41:34.960 beautiful, beautiful pieces of handmade pottery, which I always find because I happen 458 00:41:35.039 --> 00:41:39.320 to love supporting artisans. Yes, yes, good, thank you, thank 459 00:41:39.320 --> 00:41:44.119 you. And what you do at Ventris you support I mean, and it's 460 00:41:44.159 --> 00:41:49.679 clear because as going through you, your ventry supports families. We do we 461 00:41:49.880 --> 00:41:55.280 you know, from day one, we wanted to support artisans, We wanted 462 00:41:55.280 --> 00:42:00.480 to support families. We wanted to support women in business. We do work 463 00:42:00.800 --> 00:42:10.280 some in India and a few other small countries, always women run and always 464 00:42:10.840 --> 00:42:16.119 with no child labor. We will never work in China. We will never 465 00:42:16.239 --> 00:42:28.440 work anywhere where it's not safe practices and um and properly run businesses. We 466 00:42:28.880 --> 00:42:37.280 do work a little bit in Portugal to supplement what we do in very simple 467 00:42:37.400 --> 00:42:44.480 product lines that as we were talking about, can be scaled to bigger mass 468 00:42:44.599 --> 00:42:50.800 market bigger markets. But we always we do not work in decalt We do 469 00:42:50.800 --> 00:42:55.039 not. We always work in hand paint because that is what we are about. 470 00:42:58.400 --> 00:43:00.239 I think it's important, you know, I don't even like to try. 471 00:43:00.960 --> 00:43:05.239 I am becoming a conscious traveler when it's you know, my dying my 472 00:43:05.320 --> 00:43:08.679 time, as I say, versus hosted trips, which obviously accept with glee, 473 00:43:08.840 --> 00:43:13.519 right, you know, because those are learning experiences. But I think 474 00:43:13.559 --> 00:43:16.800 about when I travel now, if I'm if I'm investing my personal money into 475 00:43:16.880 --> 00:43:22.719 traveling or anything products, restaurants, I check and make sure that there's no 476 00:43:22.840 --> 00:43:27.760 violations that are offensive to me. With starting with human rights, I've had 477 00:43:28.039 --> 00:43:30.599 I've had a tough time with the whole restaurant outing of how people are treated. 478 00:43:30.679 --> 00:43:35.639 I've dined out lesson Listen. I come from a career promoting restaurants. 479 00:43:36.159 --> 00:43:38.760 So the home is important. I think, you know, going back to 480 00:43:38.800 --> 00:43:42.920 the definition at home. Home needs to be where you're comfortable and safe, 481 00:43:42.920 --> 00:43:45.239 and you also can have your identity. It's where you can have fun with 482 00:43:45.239 --> 00:43:52.840 your personality with no judgments and underscore no judgment, no judgment. And you 483 00:43:52.880 --> 00:44:00.760 know, I speak a lot to women who aren't confident in creating their home 484 00:44:00.079 --> 00:44:07.440 that they and I say women, but also men. And the real key 485 00:44:07.519 --> 00:44:13.639 to it is if you want a clean palette, that is fun, but 486 00:44:13.800 --> 00:44:19.880 you've got to figure out who you are and how you want to make that 487 00:44:20.079 --> 00:44:24.000 your identity. Not look at a picture and say I want exactly that, 488 00:44:24.199 --> 00:44:30.920 because that's not who you are. And when I go into someone's house and 489 00:44:31.119 --> 00:44:40.400 it is so sparse and so so accepted, I think that's the word. 490 00:44:40.920 --> 00:44:46.599 I wonder what they think about, and I do find that I'm asking questions 491 00:44:46.639 --> 00:44:51.280 about what are their loves, what do they do with their spare time. 492 00:44:51.360 --> 00:44:57.519 What are they reading? Just to help understand who they are. I happen 493 00:44:57.760 --> 00:45:04.320 like you to love Italy and love textures and love a feeling of mixing fabrics 494 00:45:04.400 --> 00:45:09.039 together and UM thing in a place where you can take off your shoes or 495 00:45:09.159 --> 00:45:13.679 keep your shoes on and put your feet in the on the sofa and who 496 00:45:13.760 --> 00:45:21.880 cares, and and that is um that's that's a home. It's a restaurant 497 00:45:22.000 --> 00:45:27.679 that you're comfortable in when someone greets you and they say bunjourn or they welcome 498 00:45:27.719 --> 00:45:30.880 you, and you're going, this is going to be a wonderful night. 499 00:45:30.840 --> 00:45:35.679 Great and again no judgment. You know, you know I dread. I 500 00:45:35.719 --> 00:45:37.920 won't go to a restaurant where I feel like it's like, all right, 501 00:45:37.920 --> 00:45:40.119 do you have a reservation? We're only doing five and eleven. You know, 502 00:45:40.159 --> 00:45:45.199 I could write a book on snootie and hoodie. And I'm particularly since 503 00:45:45.199 --> 00:45:49.320 I moved out of New York. I'm so keenly aware of the rest of 504 00:45:49.320 --> 00:45:52.760 the country and attitudes. UM. I have to say. You're friends with 505 00:45:52.840 --> 00:45:58.760 someone who is one of my um I have a book. She inspired my 506 00:45:58.840 --> 00:46:02.039 selling My House. Francis Mays, who's featured in the book she wrote a 507 00:46:02.079 --> 00:46:06.559 book, not mat her I want. She wrote a book called I think 508 00:46:06.559 --> 00:46:10.039 it's called A Year in the World. Yeah, and I sold my house 509 00:46:10.119 --> 00:46:15.840 to live a year in the world, like Francis. Unfortunate that COVID had 510 00:46:15.119 --> 00:46:19.559 so we didn't go in the world, but we went all around the United 511 00:46:19.559 --> 00:46:23.519 States for two years, trying on different places to live, finding I knew 512 00:46:23.559 --> 00:46:27.639 home, as we say, and then I ended up had to come back 513 00:46:27.639 --> 00:46:30.719 to my original home to care for my mother. So home has been a 514 00:46:30.800 --> 00:46:35.159 recurring theme because people say, where do you live, where's your home? 515 00:46:35.239 --> 00:46:38.599 And I'm like, well, home is where we roam right now, and 516 00:46:38.639 --> 00:46:42.920 it's where we're happy together, my husband and I. Right. But she's 517 00:46:42.960 --> 00:46:46.239 an amazing writer. You have to do have a beautiful section about visiting her 518 00:46:46.280 --> 00:46:50.320 home, she's a friend and entertaining at Bramo Saul. I mean, I 519 00:46:50.360 --> 00:46:53.679 have to say it's Italyana plays a beautiful book because you bring the people into 520 00:46:53.760 --> 00:46:58.840 it, and so it's not really a book. Let's say it's a book 521 00:46:58.880 --> 00:47:01.719 of friendship and people you have met. It's very much a memoir as well, 522 00:47:01.760 --> 00:47:05.920 because I learned a lot about your story. But I'm a big fan 523 00:47:06.000 --> 00:47:13.480 of hers and we will do that year in the world in Europe soon. 524 00:47:14.000 --> 00:47:16.239 We're just waiting for the right moment to do it, probably next year. 525 00:47:16.360 --> 00:47:21.920 But it was an inspiration to me and her writing. So how lucky you 526 00:47:21.960 --> 00:47:24.800 are to have wonderful friends like her, and how lucky she is to have 527 00:47:24.840 --> 00:47:30.039 a good friend like you. Well, thank you, and she is somebody 528 00:47:30.159 --> 00:47:34.280 you should meet and you should get on your program, and I can certainly 529 00:47:34.320 --> 00:47:45.480 help you with that with a gentle gosh, there's something about her and Ed 530 00:47:45.719 --> 00:48:00.960 that when you are around them you feel a gentle spirit of enthusiasm, like 531 00:48:01.119 --> 00:48:09.079 you said, acceptance of anything and everything, a love for nature, a 532 00:48:09.239 --> 00:48:14.679 love for food, a love for people, a love for the arts. 533 00:48:15.320 --> 00:48:20.719 And no one is a stranger, no one. One of the times I 534 00:48:20.840 --> 00:48:24.880 was so taken was I was visiting and were I was there. We were 535 00:48:24.920 --> 00:48:30.920 talking about the book and we were going to walk into Coartana and we saw 536 00:48:31.000 --> 00:48:37.159 this car with these two young people looking up to at her house and she 537 00:48:37.280 --> 00:48:40.719 was commenting on how many people, especially during the summer, come to see 538 00:48:40.719 --> 00:48:45.440 Brahma Soli and she said, let's go speak with him. So we go 539 00:48:45.639 --> 00:48:51.679 down the driveway. She opened the gate and this gal did not start crying, 540 00:48:51.719 --> 00:48:57.280 but could have. And they were from Switzerland. They were driving around 541 00:48:57.400 --> 00:49:01.199 Italy and one of her things she wanted to do was see Brahma Sole. 542 00:49:01.920 --> 00:49:06.320 Well, so you know, Francis stood there and talked to her. And 543 00:49:06.360 --> 00:49:10.559 the question they get all the time is is there really an Ed? And 544 00:49:12.400 --> 00:49:15.480 yes there isn't Ed. And she called Ed and Ed came down to meet 545 00:49:15.519 --> 00:49:20.360 them, right, you know. And that's the kind of person she is. 546 00:49:20.599 --> 00:49:28.840 She's she's quite giving, loving and so interesting. Well, I love 547 00:49:28.880 --> 00:49:32.559 how you The chapter of six is kindred spirits and I can tell you are 548 00:49:32.679 --> 00:49:36.199 and I think we are too. I have to we have to meet in 549 00:49:36.280 --> 00:49:39.119 persons sometime. I've really enjoyed speaking with you. This was so fast as 550 00:49:39.159 --> 00:49:43.760 the end of the show. I have loved speaking with you. Susan, 551 00:49:43.760 --> 00:49:46.840 we've talked with Susan Gravilly. She is the founder of Vietrie, which is 552 00:49:46.880 --> 00:49:52.840 a wonderful dinnerware, beautiful painted dinnerware, just gorgeous. But her book Italyana 553 00:49:52.840 --> 00:49:59.039 Plate is new just releases year commemorating the fourtieth anniversary of the founding of Vietrie 554 00:49:59.039 --> 00:50:06.320 and really part travel memoir, will travel memoir and profile some of the wonderful 555 00:50:06.639 --> 00:50:13.719 people she has connected with in Italy like I have, and wonderful menus that 556 00:50:13.800 --> 00:50:16.119 they have created. Many we're going to try as well. We can't wait 557 00:50:16.159 --> 00:50:20.119 to get back to Italy. We'll probably get to North Carolina sooner, but 558 00:50:20.199 --> 00:50:23.559 you never know. But I've enjoyed speaking with you very much, Susan, 559 00:50:23.599 --> 00:50:28.159 So thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. Well, 560 00:50:28.199 --> 00:50:31.440 Melanie, Mahouse is waiting for you and your husband, so right down 561 00:50:31.559 --> 00:50:36.320 Chapel Hill as part of your trips North Carolina. Okay, oh, I'm 562 00:50:36.360 --> 00:50:38.360 sure. Well, we have a very good friend that just opened a distillery 563 00:50:38.400 --> 00:50:43.679 and Durham, so we will be She's a walking and she's amazing, so 564 00:50:43.880 --> 00:50:47.280 we will be there. So for all my listeners, I hope you're inspired. 565 00:50:47.800 --> 00:50:53.360 I hope you find your definition of home your way because always my show 566 00:50:53.519 --> 00:50:59.840 Fearless Fabulous Shoe is about learning to live life on your terms, your choice 567 00:51:00.159 --> 00:51:10.400 always. So thank you for joining me and stay for your loss and fabulous than you