A tailor-made world

Posted on 10/11/2007 by admin

If you read this blog you might know I use the yellow line underground to travel to work; without driving I’m plenty with time to read and, most of all, to let my mind run free. Early this week I was thinking on the strange way that took me from loving baggy pants to the way I dress today.

As I grow-up I’m loving tailor made stuff more and more. I have nice shirts, but I prefere my tailor made ones: they’re more confortable and they simply fit me. Same thing for my suites: most of my preferred are tailor made.

This is probably because of the years on your shoulders teach you how to fall in love for details and how to appreciate the uniqueness. Probably. For me at least.

Tailor-made has always been a synonym of richness. Just think about Ferrari cars: each one is made by hand following its owner’s desires. They even have a dedicated web site.

But we were talking about my thoughts, weren’t we. Yes sorry. Let’s get back to them. While thinking about the way life changed my taste I suddenly realized how the tailor-made=rich equation is becoming less and less common (by the way: my pal Marco helped me discovering a great tailor that prepares shirts for us for just 40 euros, drop me a line if you live in Milan and need her contacts).

Examples? Here they come: each morning I have personalized news and informations via my Bloglines feeds; I sleep on a latex
mattress that modifies according to my body shape and weight; I choose the films/shows I want to see at the time I want them on my IP TV (more to come with things such as Joost); etc. etc.

You might say this is not truly tailor-made; they’re just (very good) approximations of what tailor-made really is. And you might be right.

So what about future trends? I actually see two main trends in this area for the next years.

1. Atoms from bits

The first 3D printers are reaching our desktops with a price that’s more or less the price os a laser printers 15 years ago (or, if you like, you can build one by yourself); today they could be useful for rapid prototyping, but tomorrow? If you imagine a future rich in nanotechs you can then imagine to create your shirt in a 3D modeling environment and then making it real using your printer. Want more? Buy the specs of your favourite digital player and let your “printer” build it for you. Fully functioning.

Kinda too futuristic huh? I agree, even if I think that my generations will see this future. But take a look at the next trend.

2. Personalization through data-mining

Google, the greatest data miner on earth, has started the creation of synthetic models of real buildings, linking them to the original through Google Earth geodata and images.
Given a number of items big enough, you might “invent” an object and find a very similar one between these items. You just need a proper way to search for it; and Google is indexing the world: I can imagine to model an object I’d like to have, give the model to google, and shop for the (already existing) approximation of it. Nice huh?

I really think we already have the knowledge and the algorithms to perform such a project. Any Venture listening? (if the answer is es you might want to contact me via Linkedin)”

Small world

Posted on 09/11/2007 by admin

Today’s been really tough. Francesca just fell asleep and I’m here on the couch watching C.S.I. Miami with my wife laying here beneath; this after 12 hours of meetings, analysis, chats, phone calls, emails, emails, emails, cooking and, last but – really my friends – not least, baby care.

One of my memes says that the higher the quality of your network, the brighter your future. It’s now something like 5 years I’m subscribed to Linkedin, so I should be accustomed with the 6 degrees law (actually Linkedin service is based on just 3 of these degrees).

Sais this, I am always impressed when this law suddenly manifests in front of me.

1) Today I had lunch with some people from Maggioli to discuss about our businesses in Second Life (they publish two magazines on the Virtual World); just before this I discovered that one of the two guys is in business with Gabetti’s investor relations consultant; which, by the way, is the same person who introduced me to Poligrafica S. Faustino (and this introduction eventually led to the Franciacorta Festival on the Gabetti Island). Networking at its best!

2) The other day my wife was travelling to Merano with some colleagues to attend a company marketing event; one of these colleagues started telling about one of his high school fellows that started a successful niche business… and then suddenly my wife realized he was talking about our friend Alex; he was at his wedding too (but we hadn’t met). She worked more then 3 years with him without knowing we had a friend in common.

3) Today I was taking a look at Linkedin managers profiles. Looked at its founder’s and suddenly noticed that I’m just one degree away from him. Me, this humble Italian guy. Not bad, huh?
Three different examples of how this world is getting smaller and smaller. And this networking effects are simply exploding since the birth of the web. Impressive.

Oh, and if you like you can take a look at my Linkedin profile.

The importance of the place

Posted on 05/11/2007 by admin

I’m writing from my parents’ couch in Mantua, a small and ancient city a couple of hours from Milan, the city who hosted me for the first 18 years of my life; before moving to Padua for the University and then to Milan to start my “adult” life.

Mantova in the last 15 years has become a liveable city rich in culture events (Festival Della Letteratura, Mantua Jazz Festival, live concerts, etc.), museums and, last but not least, an almost endless choice of restaurants.

My wife always enjoys shopping in Mantua due to the small dimensions of the city itself: you can tour it by feet all its trendy shops in a couple of hours; and you can also stop by an excellent bar for a delicious cappuccino; doing this it’s not unusual to step by one of my childhood friends (just tomorrow I had a chat with Zelo, who’s now working part-time at a local bookshop plus continuing his artistic career).

Life in Mantua is stressless and quiet; you can feel the raising lifestyle od the inhabitants; and the food is terrific.

In Milan everything is fast. You don’t have time for nothing but business. Chaos & disorder are powerful forces in this city. Concrete is everywhere. You barely can use your car to do shopping but public transportation really deserve an empowerment.

But I still leave in Milan. And I’m so happy with this that I just bought a new and bigger house (we’re still in the redesign phase; I’ll post some shots on Flickr once we cosolidate the architect’s proposal).

Why?

I think that part of the answer reside in Richard Florida‘s theory on Creative Cities (and Milan is the Design World capital): The Frontiers of Interaction wouldn’t have been possible in Mantua; meeting with top-notch professionals such as Leeander, Simone, Flavio, the people at the Bicocca University, Fabio and many many others barely unthinkable.

But the rest of the answer is about potential; Milan has the potential to become more liveable, to transform itself from the ground up cutting the distance between the city and its inhabitants; continuing to remain an innovative city. Milan is a city for the youngsters, for the makers, for the thinkers.

Milan is a city where this is possible. But this and this too.

My professional life is still based in Milan and my forecast is that this won’t change in the next 10 years. But I won’t age in this city: I prefere move my family to cities more similar to the one I was born in. I prefere a return to my roots while keeping my innovation potential intact.