Stella's lens

I’d like to have a long conversation with Angela Davis, one of the most important women of 20th century feminism, who fought gender and racial discrimination with tenacity and determination. If today we are able to speak up to make our voices heard, it is also because of powerful women such as Angela Davis, who unfortunately are often forgotten and canceled from history. 

It's very nice to see that more and more people are interested in feminist issues lately that do not concern only women but all of us.
Even if there is still a lot to do in terms of gender equality, also in the occupational field, I have the feeling that in our industry, attention to inclusivity and the diversity is increasing day by day.

On a slightly less serious note, another person I would like to meet (and possibly have a party with) is Ru Paul back in the 1980s - one of my favourite historical periods. 

Philosophy and design are more connected than what is generally assumed. I studied theoretical philosophy and I graduated with a thesis about the relationship between philosophy and neuroscience, a subject that has always intrigued me. The cognitive relation between subject and object studied by philosophy and cognitive sciences is also a fundamental aspect in design. As a matter of fact, we conceive and design each product (apps, websites, installations or even editorial products) keeping in mind what the subject/user thinks and feels.

I think that philosophy shaped the way I approach design. For me, design is one of the possibilities to investigate the relation between subject and object even further and try to translate the abstract philosophical concepts that I’ve studied into a beautiful and stimulating language. 

It's really hard for me to rank or list books that I loved, I don’t have just one favourite book or a book that changed my life, I have many! It happened in the past, for example, that I hated a book and stopped reading it halfway and then picked it back up years later and adored it. 

It all depends a lot on the period of your life that you’re going through while you read it. For me the most meaningful and inspiring books have always been books generally considered less important, narrating the stories of normal people or anti-heroes. 

I remember for example that in a time of great indecision after high school, when I didn’t know what to do and couldn’t find the courage to do what I’d liked, it was an Italian novel called “Pereira Maintains” which helped me make a decision and reach out to follow my passions. The novel isn’t a masterpiece or an amazingly inspiring story, it’s the narration of an ordinary man with a mediocre life with no ambitions, but thanks to a series of events, he becomes part of the revolutionary movement in his country.