Notes,
Essays &
Diaries. Note,
Saggi &
Diari.

Back in October, two years ago, our beloved Lupo met an untimely end after a fatal encounter with a porcupine who had entered our garden. Lupo being Lupo, he confronted the intruder.

Lupo's internal organs were punctured by the porcupine's spines. There was nothing that could be done to save him.

Diana, Anyi, Angelica and I sat in silence outside on the porch after Diana and I returned from the vet without Lupo. A shocked sense of disbelief over our unexpected loss.

We all loved Lupo. He was part of the family, part of me. I loved being with him. Walking with him in Highgate Wood, Kenwood, on the beach — there was nothing more pleasurable. Over the years we built such a strong bond between us. His look spoke a thousand words. He was elegant, beautiful, fast, agile, full of energy and affection.

Arrived in a box in a carpark. Learnt to catch a frisbee in Highgate Wood. He never wanted to return home at the end of a trip to Highgate Wood — he sensed when it was time to leave the park and would keep his distance. It became a regular part of taking Lupo to Highgate Wood.

Lupo will live long in our hearts. Unico ♥

Towards the end of last year, I was invited to share my thoughts on 'innovative ways of working' at an annual meetup for a global steel firm in Northern Italy.

After the inevitable pangs of self-doubt: Why me? What do I know about steel? What do I know about innovation?

Innovation is a word all too easy to say and all too difficult to do, akin to having a good relationship. It is about being open to change. Doing things differently. The power to question the status quo and continue questioning. Enabling healthy contamination — the bringing together of different elements, whether it be people, data, materials, methods.

Richard Buckminster Fuller coined the term 'tensegrity', combining tension and integrity, describing a structure where the stresses are evenly distributed throughout the entire structure rather than accumulating at certain points, therefore maintaining the balance of tension members. The relationship of the nodes is fundamental. The way they work together as a single structure. Teams share a similar dynamic.

There is something in equal parts humbling and empowering that comes through the sense of solidarity and group identity experienced by members of a team — through the combination of shared purpose and group intimacy. It is a unique feeling that I have had the fortune to experience at different times, from antirom through to GDS.

My Grandfather, Thomas Gill, was born in 1898, in Newcastle. He worked at an engineering firm 'Parsons' until February 1918 when he enlisted for the Royal Navy. Here below is a transcription of his handwritten reminiscences.

The National Service Act had all males to register at the age of 18. I was 'called up' but because of the work being done was exempted, but as time went on, exemptions became less and less and in Feb. 1918 in company with two or three others, we volunteered for the Royal Navy as Engine Room Artificers.

After a couple of months at Portsmouth for training and tests we left Portsmouth on June 4 for Rosyth and by June 7 I found myself aboard H.M. Destroyer Vendetta. The following months were largely taken up with routine activities at sea based at Queensferry near the Forth Bridge, patrols, escorts, gunning practice with the Grand Fleet, looking for suspected German submarines.

November 11 brought the news of the Armistice signed that morning and all work stopped for the day. It was a fine day also and in the afternoon I had a walk along part of the southern bank of the Forth. In the evening a concert on board attended by the Captain and Officers, followed by fireworks.

On the 20th we saw H.M. King George, the Prince of Wales and Admiral Sir David Beatty walk by us before they embarked to meet the surrender of the German Fleet. Later that night we left with other ships to meet the Germans. Far out in the Forth next morning, around 7.45 we sighted the German ships with everyone at Action Stations. First came the great battle cruiser Sedlistg, next the shadowy bulk of the Moltke, followed by Hindenburg, the Derfflinger and the Von der Tan. All told 10 battleships, 4 Battle Cruisers, 6 Light Cruisers and 50 Destroyers — truly a remarkable sight as they steamed into the lines of the escorting British warships.

It must have proved a day of bitter humiliation for Germany to hand over so formidable a fleet, but the allies, after 4 years of conflict, had won and the Great War was over.

How good are you at communicating with other people? What do you consider the fundamentals of good communication?

As simple as these questions seem at first glance, they represent a major stumbling block in how effectively people and companies alike stay receptive to the needs and views of others in order to build relationships of value and substance.

From early experiences of establishing playground friendships to the hierarchical models encountered while growing up, there is no rule book to what and how we share with others.

Designing better engagement models between services and customers hinges on the skill with which we listen to what people need. The ability for a company to embrace a listening culture does not happen by default. It requires an investment in customer-driven collaboration methodologies, and for this approach to be embraced from the top down.

"Everyone has a story. When people are talking about something they know well and do well, they're almost always interesting. And if they're not, it's generally your fault because you're not asking the right questions and you haven't made them comfortable." — Malcolm Gladwell

Storytelling remains one of the most powerful tools of engaging people.

Over the last couple of weeks, Diana and I made a Super 8mm film for her fashion label, Vuscichè. We were ably assisted by Riccardo Pascucci — Bottega Analogica — and our daughter, Anyi.

We used two cameras — a Braun Nizo 801 Macro (a thing of beauty) and a Canon 1024 XLS.

Day 1, 2, 3 — storyboard, location scout, choice of soundtrack. Day 4 — Shoot. Day 5, 6, 7 — Develop and grade film. Day 8, 9, 10 — edit/montaggio.

Here are some pictures I took yesterday morning of my 3 month old cucumber plants (I sowed them indoors in mid-April). Their tentacles wrap themselves around whatever is available to provide support for the fruit they will bear.

My father enjoyed making a 'fry up' on Saturday mornings, usually consisting of fried eggs, bacon and fried bread. This was a regular occurrence. Here he is in action, circa 1988, in the kitchen of 28 Ferncroft Avenue.

My old flatmate from Milan, Nicola Tosic, asked me to take part in an art event — 'Something New' — that he was organising in October 2009. Earlier that year, Diana and I had adopted our three children from Colombia.

I decided to create a video that juxtaposed words spoken by my father with my adopted son learning to read in Italian. The visual content mixed old Super 8mm film of a setting sun, an After Effects type animation and my attempts to animate using the 'Processing' programming language.