We have no idea how many miles Marco F. Picasso has travelled as a journalist in search of original stories from entrepreneurs, but for once, we were the ones to rack them up, heading to his home region of Liguria for a “reverse interview.”
CHIARA PRATI and C. Daniela Binario have always wondered: “Where does Picasso get all that energy?”
Always on the move, visiting one printing company or another… The fatigue is real – very real – but it’s lightened by the passion and enthusiasm that keep us going, even through long hours on the road.
September 1999 marked a special moment in his career as a journalist: Labelexpo in Chicago with the Gipea group. That’s where he met Pietro Prati and a very young Ciara Prati, beginning with them a tour through the exhibition stands. A journey within the journey.
Pietro turned out to be an excellent mentor: he explained the machines patiently, sparking Marco’s fascination with the complex world of labels – where printing skills aren’t enough – and revealing the importance of inspection and embellishment.
Writing became a necessity, a way to express what was perhaps his original calling. His curiosity, his eagerness to discover, even led him in recent months to visit the labels museum in CupraMontana!
He once dreamed of being an explorer. Maybe that’s why he graduated in geology: to see not only what lies beyond, but also what lies beneath. That idea of “beyond” explains the “meta” in the name of his magazine.
Why are your articles so “different”?
It’s not just because of Antonio Ghiorzo’s imperative: “Articles shouldn’t be written with water, but with blood.” In Marco’s view, people aren’t always keen to read, but he has found that when they come across a technical article that reads almost like a story, they actually enjoy reading it.
In his book La Stampa è Bella, Marco remembers various work experiences in the print and packaging industries. Often, what begins as a necessity becomes a virtue.
The first company he worked for—a family business—closed in 1985.
Chance, and perhaps his meticulous work ethic, led him to collaborate with Rassegna Grafica in 1990 and later take over Graphicus in 2002.
When the publisher shut down the company, Marco decided to found MetaPrintArt, the first online magazine in the sector, and the textile magazine MetaInItaly.eu with his daughter.
The interview revealed so much beauty. Why keep it all to ourselves?
So we decided to share both the text and a few short videos -well worth listening to- in the SOLARCONVERSATIONS section of our website.
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