Rosario Messina, (Aci Castello, December 1942 – Meda, March 9, 2011), was an Italian entrepreneur, who in 1978 founded the Italian company Flou, an avant-garde furniture manufacturer. Biography Rosario Messina was born in 1942 in the Sicilian city of Aci Castello in 1942. His father – a farmer – died when he was a young man, leaving him the responsibility of the family. He was the eldest of five children and in 1958, he began working for the La Rinascente department store in Catania, first as an apprentice, then as a salesperson and finally as head of department. Simultaneously, he attended evening courses in book-keeping and qualified in record time, managing to complete five academic years in one. Following his experience with La Rinascente, he worked in the local branch of Zanussi-Rex, the most important Italian manufacturer of electrical appliances at that time. In the early 1970s, he was asked to work in the furniture-design sector: he joined the company C&B (now B&B Italia) as an account officer for Sicily and Calabria. He then moved to the north of the country as the company's sales manager. In 1976, he started working with Cinova, another leading sofa manufacturing company. He was appointed as the sales manager, responsible for general management. His professional turning point appeared when the soft furnishings company, Bassetti, assigned him a difficult task: he was asked to launch 'the duvet', a product to replace the traditional blanket for beds. It was a difficult undertaking, and made more complex by the opposition from the furniture dealers – the elective distribution channel – who opposed commercializing a low cost product distributed through other channels. Messina had a Eureka moment and intuitively felt that 'bed with the duvet' as opposed to duvet alone would be an overwhelming success. This ingenious idea led to the foundation of the company Flou in 1978 and the presentation of the bed 'Nathalie' designed by Vico Magistretti, an article that unquestionably was the prototype of a new design direction: the modern textile bed. Flou was a true pioneer in the 'culture of sleep' and rapidly became a leader in the world of furnishings, making an important contribution to enhancing the image of Italian design in the world. Official appointments Between 1994 and 1998, Rosario Messina was President of the Gruppo Mobili Assarredo. From 1998, he was President of Assarredo, the trade association of Federlegno-Arredo that groups