Da São Paulo (Brasile) a Catania per studiare Relational Design e poi a Milano per un importante opportunità di stage: Marília Traversim Gomes ci ha raccontato la sua esperienza – personale e professionale – all’interno del master.
What brought you to Italy?
In 2015 I came to Italy to visit my sister, who had recently moved to Sicily. At the time I worked as an assistant-editor in a big publishing house in Brazil but I wasn’t happy with it. As the editorial market slowly collapsed, I felt that my job position was getting more and more precarious and I couldn’t see any improvement or professional growth in the near future.
The trip to Sicily came right when I was thinking about the future, forced to accept the fact that I needed a change. Like everyone else I fell in love with Sicily – with its colors, the flavors, the people, mount Etna and the sea. “This is a place where I could be happy” I remember telling my sister, who suggested that I actually came to live there for a while. And so I did: I took this big leap of faith and started over.
How did Relational Design came into the picture?
I found out about it by searching online for design courses and events happening in Sicily. At that point I already knew that I wanted to live in Catania, it was just a matter of finding something that kept me busy and inspired! I particularly liked the fact that Relational Design not only allowed me to see how design was made across the ocean, but also gave me the opportunity to travel around Italy and to experience different aspects of this culturally and historically rich country.
It was just what I was looking for and now that is almost over I can honestly say that I had a great time! I just wish it was longer… I am not ready to say goodbye.
If you had to describe Relational Design in one word, what would it be?
Dynamic. Every month is completely different from the other: new subject, new teacher, new city, new students – new everything! In every module I learned something new, met new people, made new friends and built a deeper bond with those that were already there since the beginning of this journey.
What was your favorite moment and why?
Since I come from an editorial background, I really enjoyed visiting Internazionale and Zero. It was really interesting to observe how magazines work in a different country. On an academic level, I loved the workshops in Palermo and in Amsterdam, because I had never studied service design before and everything was new to me.
Has the master changed you in any way?
Of course, it gave me a different perspective in a lot of ways. Professionally, it showed me different ways to make good design and how to mix and match different areas of knowledge and resources. On a personal level, it allowed me to experience a very international environment and to meet a lot of different people, with backgrounds very different than mine. I was able to share a bit of my culture with my colleagues and learn a little bit of theirs. Now I can say I have friends all over Italy.
What are you doing now or what are planning on doing in the near future?
I recently moved to Milano to work as an intern at Subito.it. Before doing the master I don’t think I would have been able to get the position. Relational Design played a really important part in the interview!
I plan on continuing to work as a designer in Italy. I don’t know exactly where this adventure will take me, but I am really happy about how far I have been able to go.