Italian and Venezuelan by origin, I lived for a long time in the United States, in New York, where I pursued a PhD in Anthropology at Columbia University specializing in political and symbolic anthropology.  My initial research interests brought me to Paris, France, in 1992, to carry out fieldwork research on issues of citizenship, nationalism and racism through the prism of the deportation of second-generation immigrants from France.  

 

In 1997, I became Coordinator and Assistant Professor of the International MBA of the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées.  In 2003, I joined L’Ecole Parsons à Paris/Paris College of Art where I was Chair of the Design Management Department and taught courses on organizational management, innovation strategies, material culture and sustainable development.  My research interests shifted at this time, and I published several articles on the sociology of design, innovation in design and the anthropology of design - an interest that accompanies me till today.  I also started actively collaborating with artists and designers via creative projects with an anthropological approach. These collaborations lead to a few exhibitions and joint publications.

 

In 2014, I accepted the position of Director of Education at the Istituto Marangoni in Paris, which I left in 2016 in order to dedicate myself to my consulting activity and to resume my teaching and research interests.  Today I intervene as a visiting professor in various design schools in France - notably L'Ecole de Design Nantes Atlantique,Strate College, ENSAD and L'Ecole de Design de Troyes.  In addition, I help companies develop user-centered design approaches.  Among my clients are IDFM, RATP, SNCF, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Roche, Astra Zeneca....

 

Today, as a consultant and researcher, I am particularly interested in the interplay between material culture and design processes, but also in the relationship of anthropology to design and art from a larger theoretical perspective.  I pursue an academic career and my research interests in anthropology, art and design, while simultaneously developing my design management consulting practice.  I work for several companies to make explicit the design thinking method and ethnographic practices in a professional environment - as well as a sustainable development approach through design. However, as a researcher, I am critical of current design management and design practices and seek to promote a more critical perspective in design that takes in consideration environmental, social and ultimately decolonial perspectives.