I’m writing this flying over the Alps, on BA579 from Venice to London. It’s a big blue sky lit by hazy sunshine, and the Alps look unreal. We just flew a few metres over a contrail, a perpendicular arc into the sunlight, hundreds of kilometres long, a surprisingly distinct temporary structure of curly vapour. Best Installation Ever.
I’m on my way to New York, to help judge the IxDA interaction design awards for 2012. While I’m looking forward to that very much, the timing is not ideal I must admit. I said “yes” to Jen Bove and Raphael Grignani, and to a speech at the Barcelona Smart City Expo which is hot on its heels on Tuesday, months ago while I was still Strategic Design Lead at Sitra, in Helsinki. But things change.
As of this week, I live in northern Italy, in Treviso, and I’ve just been appointed CEO of Fabrica.
I feel incredibly honoured, proud and happy to be in this new role. Fabrica is an extraordinary organisation. Many places describe themselves as “unique”, and of course they all are, but they can usually be seen as a type of school, or studio, or commercial practice, or research centre. Fabrica, hovering between all these things yet resisting the urge to fall into becoming any one of them, is perhaps genuinely without parallel. This makes it a little tricky to explain, but this ability to avoid pigeonholes is also to its credit.
