Mattia

Mattia trained as a designer and spent fifteen years commuting between two ways of being alive: Italy, where life is decided in the belly, and Germany, where it is decided in the head. Then he went looking for a third place, and found it halfway between the two: which, as it turns out, is the heart. Portugal. Somewhere in there he also made the life choice most people would have advised against: he became more interested in people than in products.

What began as a design career slowly turned into an ongoing investigation into community, governance, psychology, ecology, relationships, fatherhood, and the ancient human art of repeatedly learning the same lesson in increasingly sophisticated ways. Along the way he has welcomed more than a thousand people into his home and projects, many of them navigating major life transitions. Looking back, he sometimes wonders whether he has been building communities, accidentally running an unofficial transition centre, or simply surrounding himself with enough mirrors to avoid escaping his own growth.

Much of the last decade was devoted to a place called Mosaic. What started as a piece of land became a living experiment in regeneration, governance, culture and collective life. Together with many wonderful, stubborn, idealistic and occasionally exhausted human beings, they planted thousands of trees, built lakes capable of retaining millions of litres of rainwater, and hosted trainings, gatherings, celebrations, crises, breakthroughs, difficult conversations, beautiful conversations, and occasionally the same conversation several times until everyone finally understood each other.

Somewhere along the way he became a kind of invisible choreographer, trying to weave people, projects, opportunities, landscapes and life itself into something slightly more coherent than the day before. The land became greener. The governance became more sophisticated. The humans… continued being humans.

Today he finds himself entering a new chapter. After years of helping build Mosaic, he is gradually stepping out of the role of primary builder and into the role of steward, mentor, and professional asker of uncomfortable questions. His attention is increasingly moving towards supporting people, organisations and communities beyond Mosaic, while he remains deeply devoted to the project that shaped so much of his life.

He continues to be fascinated by the relationship between inner and outer landscapes, by the dance between freedom and commitment, and by what becomes possible when people choose courage over comfort.

If there is one thing life has taught him, it is that transformation rarely arrives looking like transformation. It usually arrives disguised as a mistake, a conflict, a heartbreak, a failed plan, or a situation you did not order and would very much like to return. Fortunately, these have also turned out to be some of his greatest teachers.