Francisco, where are you from originally?
“I am from Argentina, where I studied as an industrial designer at the public university of Buenos Aires. It’s a five-year career, intense, immersive, and demanding. Most subjects stretch across a full year, which means you don’t just learn design, you learn endurance. You learn how to follow through. Coordination, timing, perseverance, decision-making, these weren’t just academic skills; they became part of my identity.”
“In 2016, I founded my own studio in Argentina—a space where I could explore how creation itself becomes a response to change. I’ve never been drawn to what’s perfect or untouched. Instead, I’m fascinated by new beginnings, by the moment something transforms, when it starts to tell a different story. That’s why I began working with aluminium waste. Not because it was discarded, but because it still held potential. Each piece had a past life; I saw the chance to give it a new one.”
Being fascinated by new beginnings means embracing change. What changed for you?
“I left Argentina in February 2020, just a month before the world shut down. My first stop was Naples (Italy), chasing a long-standing plan to claim my passport. This became my first encounter with the pandemic, right at its epicentre. After a three month lock down and with an European passport in my hand, I moved to Paris, where my creative energy began to take shape, quiet sketches on quiet days, drawn by hand at Pompidou library.”
“Somewhere along the way, I realized that I thrived in leadership roles. I began putting myself forward as a project leader whenever I could. That’s where my future as a project manager was planted, long before I knew the title, I was already playing the part. The long-format structure of the career trained me for the long run. It taught me that excellence is a process, not a moment. It’s no coincidence that today I work as a consultant in European circular and bioeconomy projects at PNO Innovation. The logic, the vision, the purpose, they’ve been with me all along, just expressed in different ways.”
Did this mean that designing was put on the back burner for a while?
“To me, design and consulting aren’t opposites – they’re parallel expressions of care, vision, and impact. One is tangible, the other structural. But both are about rethinking systems, amplifying hidden potential, and creating stories that matter. I see it as a conversation. One of those conversations became ERGO. More than a well-designed lamp, it’s a manifesto.“
“From sketch to sculpture, ERGO was built from scratch. It began in Paris with pencil and paper; over 100 drawings, each one inching closer to what I wanted to say. It wasn’t about finding the perfect form; it was about finding the most honest one. Once I chose the direction, I translated it into a 3D model, drawing on skills I hadn’t used since university. I printed the first prototype in nylon using Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) to test proportions, weight, and balance. From there, it went to the foundry. It took three prototypes—and a lot of listening, adjusting, and letting go—before the final version emerged.”
“But in truth, the hardest part wasn’t technical. It was emotional. Designing something personal means exposing a part of yourself, and with that comes vulnerability, doubt, fragility. I had been carrying these designs with me for five years, since that quiet spring in Paris in 2020, and it wasn’t until mid-2024 that I felt ready to let them live in the world. ERGO had waited patiently. And when I finally released it, it felt like something had come full circle.”
In what sense does PNO Innovation fit into the circle?
“That same philosophy of transformation with purpose shapes my work today as a project manager and consultant in circular and bioeconomy projects at PNO Innovation. Whether I’m helping craft a one-of-a-kind object or contributing to large-scale European initiatives for systemic change, I’m driven by the same question: How can we give new value to what others overlook?”
What if people want to know more about you and your work?
“They can visit my website. That will give them a good idea of what I do. But of course, they can also call me directly or contact me via Teams; that’s one of the advantages of being colleagues!”
“I believe the things we shape—be it with our hands, our decisions, or our ideas—carry the power to connect us. To one another. To the planet. To new ways of seeing and building what comes next.”
