Paolo Massima reveals some aspects of his career as a designer and how he steered towards the designing of natural stone objects.
I was born in the United States and landed in France in 1972, spent my childhood between Paris and Rome and often in the region of La Spezia and Carrara in northern Tuscany.
Therefore I’m Franco/ American but of Italian origin. Cocteau said “an Italian is a Frenchman in a good mood”, I am more of that dominance!
I started my artistic education by specializing in the reproduction of statues and monuments in plaster at E.N.S.A.A.M.A. in Paris, but I quickly got bored there, too little room for creation, not very “rock’n’roll”. Yet I always kept that instinctive interest in stonework, sculpture and architecture…
Product design
So I switched to the profession of designer which I achieved in consultancy firms, as a freelancer and as an integrated designer in the automotive industry. I spent a few years in advanced research, at the heart of technology. I have had my load of all this at a professional level, I will continue to follow its progress with passion on a personal basis …
These latest years I’ve been in touch with the local start-ups ecosystem, and spontaneously recognized myself in the “makers” sphere.
So I ended up founding this company and getting involved in this activity to move closer to my origins and get more meaning from my job, and share my knowledge with others.
Family values
My family values has given me some habits that have become trendy in these times of ecological awareness, such as a certain sense of frugality and irritation by waste, which can be found in my habits of recycling already used packaging to make my own packages.
When I travel back and forth to Italy I do ride-sharing one way, and drive back loaded with marble: a perfect way of combining serendipity with efficiency!
All is good in marble
I’ll take this opportunity to mention that marble and its industry are particularly efficient: there is no loss, no leftovers. All the scraps are collected and crushed into a fine powder used in other industries (painting, cosmetics, medical …), it is a big business itself.
