July 2025
Last week, I visited Daniele Riva, sixth-generation builder of the legendary Riva boats, at his family’s shipyard on Lake Como. We toured his company’s historic birthplace — founded in 1771 — just a few hundred feet from George Clooney’s villa.
One story in particular stayed with me. In the 1980s, customer preferences shifted dramatically: the market demanded fiberglass hulls. They were cheaper and easier to mass-produce. Most boatmakers made the switch. But Daniele’s father refused.
He believed in the integrity of wood — its beauty, its soul. For several lean years, demand cratered. To survive, the company leaned hard into maintenance and repair services, keeping the doors open while others chased the trend.
Then, the pendulum swung. A renewed appreciation for craftsmanship brought customers back, and Riva was ready. That bet — to stay true to quality even when it was out of fashion — now looks brilliantly prescient. It’s a reminder that outlasting isn’t about reacting to every shift in the market. It’s about knowing what matters most — and having the patience to let the world come back around.
