2017 was a year I do not have enough words to describe!
I would love to be able to go back in time, but the truth is that everything that happened shaped me in many ways. It was a year that went beyond my expectations and was full of surprises.
Last year began with a visit to CERN, where I spent an incredible week. I visited Atlas and wandered the corridors where the web was born, I was at IdeaSquare developing a robot without any knowledge of electronics, and I went around offering chocolates and hugs in exchange for help.
Straight after CERN I travelled to San Francisco, where I was surrounded by more than 200 students from all over the world who belong to the SUGAR Network, a network that believes an open mindset within companies is fundamental.
Back in Portugal, at Porto Design Factory, we decided to celebrate pyjama day. There is definitely a special energy there that catches anyone who is around. I went to Australia, to Design Factory Melbourne, to work with my team on the project we were developing for Sonae MC. Those were two incredible weeks where I saw landscapes I will never forget, saw kangaroos and animals that do not exist in Europe, and by the end all I wanted was to stay.
On returning to Porto Design Factory, my second home that year, my team entered the final stretch of finishing the Sonae MC project and preparing the presentation in Silicon Valley, without forgetting that I also wanted to finish the Evolution Chair, the project for my master’s dissertation. We completed and presented the project in Silicon Valley and afterwards I set off on a road trip across the USA with friends.
I came back to Portugal knowing that with the course over, Porto Design Factory would be less present in my daily life, and that I would have to start the frantic pace of ballet rehearsals for my other second home, Estúdio de Dança Margarida Valle, for our show at the end of the school year. And knowing that the future would be completely different, because when I got back from the USA I brought with me a job offer to work in Germany. Over the summer I travelled the Baltic Sea and felt the heat of Barcelona. I moved to Germany and began a new adventure, in a new country I had never imagined.
It was without doubt a year in which everything happened, and if I could I would do it all again. I met people from all over the world and made friends for life who are as curious as I am and want as much of the world as I do.
Why not make 2018 one of those years too?
I have decided to create a new section on my site. This will not be a blog, but a series of short articles.
Writing brings back good memories of when I was a child writing in my own diary, or in the one I shared with friends to talk about our week. Those small gestures are part of who I am today and they make me want to know more of the world, and to share more with the world too.
With this series of short articles I want to leave a footprint and somehow be part of something that makes a difference.
I believe that communication and sharing are the most powerful tools available to everyone.
Welcome to Design Salad, a series of short articles where I will share my ideas and what I learn.
With love,
Joana
