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 The challenge ahead - Reflections from the Editor
In these uncertain times, with increasing economic pressures and social upheaval, this moment is an appropriate time to ask ourselves the following questions; “What compels us to continue to produce in such times as these? Is it reasonable to continue investment in European manufacturing?”. To ignore these questions is to blindly do our work, my job, without question or explanation, to allow the market to determine our commercial decisions.
From where can we start again? Only from the desire of man. The heart of man, of every single man, has within the demand of Truth, Beauty, Justice.
And even if everything seems to go against this and tries to obscure it, we are convinced that this is common to everybody, that this is our strength and the point from which we can start again. This is the key to face the future. We start this challenge with the time to come in front of us and we will see how it develops in all its details. It will be an adventure and there are no ready made recipes, no guarantees.
This has been our philosophy over the last 40 years. We are facing a new adventure, we thrive under these circumstances, for us this is what makes the journey worthwhile.
There is an interesting way to enjoy our work and our lives. To experience work as an ‘end in itself’ with its own rewards, rather than merely being a ‘means to an end’. It is described by Peguy in the book “L’argent”, which we can recommend as further reading and it may even inspire in you what is has inspired among us.
Maurizio Bragagni (Editor)
«Once upon a time, workers were not serfs. They worked. They cultivated an honor that was absolute, as is proper to honor. A chair leg had to be well-made. It was natural, it was understood. It was a supreme value. It was not necessary that the chair leg be well-made for one's salary or in proportion to one's salary. It did not need to be well-made for the boss, connoisseurs, or the boss's customers. It had to be well-made for itself, in itself, in its very nature. They demanded that the leg be well-made. And every part of the chair that was not visible was worked with the same perfection as the parts that could be seen, in accordance with the same principle by which cathedrals were built?»
C. Peguy, L'argent, 1914
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