VAIA creates and supports every day a sustainable and replicable business in different places, based on the enhancement of the territory, local communities and people, while respecting nature.
because VAIA is at the forefront of creating value and beauty wherever there is a socio-environmental challenge for territories and communities in the region.
because we are a movement of people united by projects and products – symbols of the environmental challenges to which we respond – but above all by the dream of doing good for us, our future and planet. We are Vaia people.
because we support the local artisans and supply chains with whom we realise our projects, connecting different realities, including companies that want to participate in the renaissance.
“With VAIA, we want to show that this is possible by combining ecological, economic and social sustainability: Together we face what matters.
Our vision and mission is that of a united and courageous community. We are more than the sum of our parts: just as the forest is more than the totality of its trees, the VAIA community is more than the individual elements that make it up.
At VAIA, we are united in what matters: We give sustainability space, we want to be present and have an impact where it is most needed. With concrete measures for the environment and people and with a sustainable business model based on the circular economy.
The Vaia storm (2018, Dolomites) was our first major challenge, to which we owe our name. We knew that it would pass, but that we would have to live with its consequences for a long time. VAIA now has a new meaning: it stands for many other challenges to protect the environment and promote sustainability.”
On 28 October, storm Vaia brought the Dolomites to their knees, felling 42 million trees. We chose to create something new, something positive for the territory, communities and people. We asked ourselves: “What if producing meant not depleting resources, but giving back to nature and the ecosystem?” With this question our startup was born.
We launched VAIA Cube on the first anniversary of the storm, generating great interest in the Triveneto region. Media coverage and people’s reception exceed expectations: the Vaier community begins to form! On 26 December, a TG2 report on our story comes out and, for the first time, we reach a national audience.
Forbes mentions us as one of the “100 leaders of the future under 30 in Italy”, we plant our first trees, celebrate Vaia Day (live online with entrepreneurs, designers, journalists and Vaier) and enter a partnership with the Arte Sella open-air museum, with the desire to communicate a commitment to art and culture. We surpass our goals and leave our jobs to devote ourselves to VAIA full-time.
We launch VAIA Cube imperfetto, we organise our first planting events open to the public and VAIA Summer Week (on the theme of Nature and the City), we take part in TEDxCatania as a speaker, in TEDxCortina as a partner and in the Fuorisalone in Milan to present VAIA Focus, we collaborate with Marco Mengoni and Sony Music for the launch of the Materia (Earth) album. We reach 30,000 trees and begin to arouse interest in Germany as well.
We organise the VAIA Design Camp, the VAIA Summer Sport and The Forest of Innovators, we collaborate with Olympic champion Gregorio Paltrinieri and artists such as Chiara Galiazzo, Madame and Elisa, we deliver a Cube to the Pope, Sergio Mattarella and Nobel Peace Prize winner prof. M. Yunus, we return to the Fuorisalone, we participate in the European meeting of Fridays for Future and in the National Festival of Civil Economy, we are guests at the CSR Fair in Bocconi, Federico is appointed Local Hero of the Heroes Never Sleep project. We launch VAIA Cube JOY, we activate our projects on glaciers, we plant for the first time also in the city (Venice, Rome), we enter a partnership with FAI – Fondo per l’Ambiente Italiano and reach 60 thousand trees!
We collaborate on a project in support of Iranian women’s freedom with the Sozzani Foundation and participate in Italian Tech Week. We organise the second edition of La Foresta degli Innovatori and the VAIA Spring School, support the TEDxSapienzaU and other projects in schools (up to Trapani!). We open up to new sustainability ideas for accommodation facilities, implement our proposals dedicated to businesses and launch the first VAIA Experiences (corporate team building). We forge partnerships with important museums across the boot, expand the team with new resources, reach 90,000 trees and clean up 10 Alpine glaciers.
VAIA is a group of people determined to put innovation, the environment and the land back at the centre, through the strength of a sustainable project for the present and the future.