Susan Gravely – alongside her sister, Frances, and mother, Lee – founded VIETRI 40 years ago after a serendipitous vacation where they discovered the charms of Italian ceramics. Gravely’s new book, Italy on a Plate, equal parts travelogue/cookbook/memoir, is a culinary delight celebrating four decades of bringing the best of Italy’s tableware to an adoring fan base.
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You and I go back almost to the start of VIETRI in 1983. [Editor’s note: the brand started capitalizing its name in 2003 to differentiate it from the city of Vietri.] We met two years later, in 1985, when I was among the first to write about the company. It’s been mutual admiration since.
It has! We were young, starry-eyed, and very excited about doing things that we loved. We had no idea where it would lead. It’s incredible to be so filled with energy and excitement. And for both of us, that passion hasn’t left. We love what we do, and that’s why we’re still at it.
................................ Time is a funny thing. It feels like my sister, mother, and I went on our first trip to Italy just yesterday, not 40 years ago. The years have been packed with discovery, learning, hard work, challenges, and triumphs, including Italy on a Plate, my memoir and cookbook, which I’ve been working on for two years. The book tells the VIETRI story from my viewpoint, along with some of my friendships with the wonderful Italians I’ve met who have shared their favorite family recipes.
– SUSAN GRAVELY
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It’s a marvelous milestone. Congratulations on 40 wonderful years. It’s a blink of the eye, right?
Totally. I look in the mirror and say, ‘What happened?’ But when you have the mindset to learn, create, and dream, you stay young. You get to see new people come into our industry and hear new ideas.
I’ve always known it’s about the journey, not the destination.
And not the money. We always wanted to be successful, of course, but my definition of success was just writing the next order. I remember at the beginning wanting to get to the end of the year and pushing to make goals. Then one mentor, and I’ve had many, said, ‘The last day of the year is just the last day of the year; the next day comes and it just keeps going.’ That was powerful. It’s almost like being on a boat and the waves move you in different directions. You try to steer with your visions and intentions, but sometimes you just have to move with the waves. You get burned in the sun and may not get to the point you were heading, but that’s okay – it’s a different point, and you move from there.
With 40 years of memories, what calls out to you most?
The smiles on people's faces when they tell me about the impact VIETRI has had on them. Whether it’s a meal, family coming together, or their trips to Italy, they’re always filled with joy. The energy I get from people who appreciate what we do is incredible. The other memorable thing is the expanded world view it’s afforded me and realizing that all of us are basically the same; we all have dreams, ideas, and creations, and we all want to gather around a table and feel joy in good and bad times. I’ve had a very broad table in my life, and for that, I’m very appreciative. Another thing that stands out is that I was in a family business, and my family stayed together. That’s not so easy.
................................ In reflecting back over the last 40 years in business, I was struck by how many incredible relationships and experiences I have been blessed with in Italy and here at home. When I started this amazing adventure with my mother and sister in 1983, I don’t think any of us could have ever dreamt we would be where we are today. I wanted to find a way to pay homage to the people and places, the opened homes and shared dinner tables, the hard work achieved and the special moments created throughout this journey with people who have become my family. ITALY ON A PLATE showcases all of these fond memories, and writing it has brought joy to my life.
–SUSAN GRAVELY
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That fateful trip to the Amalfi Coast you took with your mother, affectionately known as Momma, and your sister Frances started it all. And now Momma has passed and Frances has retired. Is that bittersweet?
Yes, that’s the perfect word. Frances and I were raised by parents who taught us the value of friendship and respect, and it was very important to Momma that there not be something that would split me and Frances apart. She was the older sister, and I was the president, so it wasn’t always easy. Frances was more independent, more wild. I was a good student and a good girl. I liked to watch what was going on and ask questions. My nickname was Big Ears because I wanted to hear every idea and every conversation. We reversed our family roles in business. In business, you work by different rules, so we took steps to survive. We went to family business seminars and family therapists and kept our positions separate, building on our respective strengths, which gave me the ability to lead the company and not feel the pressure of a family business. I went through a grieving period when Frances retired 12 years ago, but we talk every day, and she’s still my dear sister and one of my dearest friends. Momma was invaluable. She traveled better than anybody; when she invited us on a trip, we stopped everything and went. She’d come to shows, she’d travel with me, and gave advice. She lived with Bill and me the last year of her life and lived that year the same as her first 88 years: with grace and pragmatism. She outlived her nurse.
I was always intrigued by three Southern women operating in a male-dominated business, a chauvinistic country, and a very different era.
We didn’t know any better, so we didn’t worry about any of that. There were always foreigners in our home because of daddy’s business [tobacco exporting]. He’d say we’re only a phone call and plane ticket away from anywhere in the world, so the world never looked that big to us. I felt a gender difference only once, in Palermo at a car rental place, and I knew it was because I was a woman. I was furious. We always walked shows and factories professionally, with a handshake and respect. We were never higher or lower than anyone.
I love Italy on a Plate. It’s a beautiful book filled with gorgeous images of Italy, ceramics, and food. The format includes the family recipes of many of the factories you’ve worked with over the years. How hard was the book to assemble?
It took two years. For a long time, people told me they wished I’d write a book; I thought it’d be a business book. Then, with our 40th anniversary coming, I was urged to start writing by our marketing team. They asked me to think about the people and experiences that meant the most to me. I knew I had to write about how the business started, and then I thought about adding recipes because that’s a great way to show our dinnerware. I made a list of our most important dinnerware designs and went to the factories, took pictures of them at home and work, and shared their favorite family recipes.
Did you make all the recipes?
Of course. And I had so much fun doing it.
What are your favorites?
The carrot and zucchini strudel. It looks so hard, but it’s not. And the orange and sage shortbread cookies made by my dear friend Frances Mayes, which open every pore in your mouth. [Mayes is the author of the acclaimed book, Under the Tuscan Sun, and wrote the foreword for Gravely’s book.]
What’s it like eating your way through Italy?
It’s priceless, and it also puts weight on. You have to learn how to eat. The beauty of Italian food is that if you’re not eating pizza and pasta, it’s not so bad. Southerners and Italians are very similar in their hospitality. The difference is that it takes more than a few visits for Italians to invite you to their home, but once they do, you’re friends for life. I’ll never forget the first time I was invited into the home of one of our factories. There were 20 family members for lunch. Nothing on the table matched, and there were cracks in the dinnerware. And yet it was perfect and delicious and memorable. I’ve tried to run VIETRI similarly, like one big family. It’s so important that you spend time getting to know every person in your company on a name basis; you don’t know who’s lonely in this world and has no one else. They’re giving you eight hours of their life every day. We’ve lost the beauty of forging relationships. I’m always looking to build a bridge somewhere, somehow. I believe the future is bright, but change must always happen. I’ve learned that through 40 years. How can we impact the next generation to not forget about respect, dignity, love, friendship, and camaraderie, and to have competitiveness that’s collegiate. All we can do is be the best we can and show our vulnerability. It’s okay for people to know we’re not perfect.
How have you not been perfect? What are among the biggest mistakes you’ve made?
Hiring the wrong people. I always hire the wrong people when I hire them from an emotional point of view, not a place of strength. I tried three times to hire a president before we got it right with Holli (Draughn), who’s been here for 11 years. I’ve also tried to hire distant family members because I have no children, but they didn’t love the business, so it never worked. If you don’t love it, don’t do it. It’s a lot of work and commitment.
What’s been the biggest obstacle to success?
Being a family business meant that Frances and I had to get beyond the differences in our work positions to remain family. I had retail experience and had opened three stores. I loved tabletop. Frances was a great marketer with an industrial design background. She also had two babies. I was free. Momma always said family was the most important thing, and if the company got in the way, then shame on us. We had to figure out a way to coexist, and we did, but it wasn’t always easy.
What are some of your fondest remembrances?
Years ago, I got a phone call from an excited factory owner who told me the mayor wanted to give me the keys to the town of Nove, that’s about an hour east of Venice. I thought I’d go to City Hall, and they’d just hand me a sheet of paper, so when Momma and my husband, Bill, said they wanted to go, I thought that was silly. But when we got there, there were banners all over the piazza, a marching band, opera singers from La Scala, and a seated dinner for 150. Everyone was congratulating me for bringing work to their ceramic town. I gave the acceptance speech in my best Italian, and I was thrilled that Momma and Bill were there to witness it. I was given framed keys to the city and a ceramic whistle, molded like Napoleon on a horse. [Fun fact: when Napoleon rode through the region, townspeople blew small ceramic whistles to warn that the French were arriving.]
Does anything still surprise you?
That people can just copy you with no scruples about it. We have copyrights on all of our designs, and I’m not afraid to send cease-and-desist notices. You win some, you lose some. They play catch me if you can. Our attorneys say we can spend millions trying to get them; some are too big, and we can’t afford that. So yes, I still get surprised by that.
Can an old dog learn new tricks?
Well I just wrote a book, so yes they can!
VIETRI was ahead of its time creating a made in Italy cachet.
We also helped usher in a mix-and-match era. Italy is the number one visited country for Americans, and with lives becoming more homogenized, people want something that’s original and made by hand. I call it imperfect perfection. They want a connection, and VIETRI connects people who dream of going to Italy and buying fabulous tableware.
You’ve called your story a fairy tale.
When I think about what we achieved with as little knowledge as we had, it’s pretty amazing. There were many things we did that were fateful – like asking a group of my father’s friends to be on a board of directors so we’d be accountable and meeting the man who became our agent after our passports were stolen – which we had little to do with. That’s the fairy tale part– how those things just happen. But we were never afraid to ask for advice and to make the next decision and the one after that. That was not luck; that was a lot of hard work. We were determined and unafraid. Whenever we’d hit a wall, we’d turn right or left and try something else. That’s how it’s gone all these years. It wasn’t important to me that we were the biggest, but I always wanted to make sure we were the best. And I’m not going anywhere. I love coming to the office. I love working. I love mentoring. As long as I feel the energy and stay valuable and validated, I’ll keep at it. I’ve enjoyed every second of these 40 years.