05 MAY 2020 My name is William. I have an English name, an Italian passport and a German address. I am a trained Product designer, but I always sucked at it. Then I decided to “step behind the scenes and direct others on the stage,” becoming a design curator. In general I don’t believe in titles; my generation is tailoring professions around its own skills and this is what I am doing constantly.

I write stories, concepts, and ideas that I try to translate or to tell through design/objects shows. Sometimes I come up with another output, depending on what the storytelling needs.

I am very good at networking, I always want to get to know as many people as possible and I am very good at bringing them together in a creative way. Here in Berlin, I consider myself a design activist, keeping the scene together, organising meetings and networking events of all sorts.

The pandemic wiped all of my projects off the table. My plan for 2020 was and actually still is, to work more in Milan, Italy. That city is a crazy fertile soil to plant ideas and I wanted to be a part of it. I had a couple of projects going on and some bigger to come in the pipeline. It had never looked so perfect as it was. Then the wave hit.

I said, “alright, let’s paint the whole flat!” And so I did. Then I went to the supermarket, bought myself expensive wines and a lot of ingredients to cook—I am Italian, you know—and spent one of the best staycations I ever had. I even took up gardening! Bellissimo.

At home I have been studying the situation worldwide. I spoke with other curators around the globe and have been in touch with other creatives. I wrote “things,” scribbled ideas… but I am not sure if I have really adapted to the new climate.

In general I am very thankful to be here in Berlin and not in Italy. Germany is coping very well with the whole crisis and was able to hand out a lot of support to its population.

Always stay positive! Take this moment of “free given time” to help others, to help yourself, to use your creativity to spread awareness, to share love or to put smiles up on faces (or face masks). To be a creative—to be a designer of any sort is a great superpower.

My global community inspired me. From the small maker to the big world-recognized superstar curator.

Now more than ever we have seen how designers passed the test using their skills (read: superpower). They have come up with DIY devices, they have teamed up with medics and members of the NHS to cope with the crisis inventing new medical equipment. They have shared information, projects and data in an open source way. All of this will present design in a different way to the general public, especially those who normally think that design is only about style. Design has much more to offer and it is a much more complex process.

I am looking forward to going back to Italy and hugging my grandparents. I want to invite all my friends for dinner and I want to go to the seaside. In a time of crisis like this, I realised what in life really counts. Family and friends are really on the first place above all the rest.

I am creative for God’s sake! I will come up with something to restart.

Talk to me, share your stories and ideas. Now more than ever it is important to stick together as a community and help each other locally to then benefit globally.

Involve me in projects, ask me for advice. I even speak German!

After this pandemic I will almost be good at gardening and cooking. Don’t ask me to paint your flat though, I didn’t really enjoy doing mine!