Patience and the walnut tree
With Maria Porro, on the time that natural materials ask of us.
Maria Porro is President of the Salone del Mobile, Milan, President of Assarredo, and Marketing and Communications Director of Porro S.p.A., her family's furniture company. For the Serumpun Leadership Series I asked her why our society has become so impatient with slowness, and what we lose because of it.
Maria answered with a story. Her company was founded a hundred years ago by her great-grandfather. In those days, when a daughter was born, the family planted a walnut tree. When she married, they cut the tree and made her furniture from its wood.
It is a lesson, she said, that we should remember, especially when we work with natural materials. You need to be patient and respectful, and completely transparent about the material you use. You need reliable suppliers, and certification to prove that what you use was sourced with respect. And you need to spread the understanding that natural materials have imperfections, and that those imperfections are part of the beauty.
To be patient is to understand the value and beauty inside a natural material. Quality cannot be rushed: the process has to take the time it needs.
It is the same discipline Serumpun asks of us with Sarawak’s ingredients and the communities who keep them.
Watch the conversation on the Serumpun Sarawak Instagram channel
Natural materials have imperfections that are part of the beauty.
Maria Porro, Serumpun Leadership Series
Quality takes the time it takes. The same is true of an ingredient and of a community's knowledge.