Jean-Marie Massaud

ed: What did you do last Sunday?

jmm: I went picknicking with my family and friends in the countryside along the bank of a river.

ed: How important is fashion to you and what’s your favorite piece of clothing?

jmm: I think that the fashion industry is a lot of bustle in the economy of the “having” (vs. the “being”), which belongs to the past. My favorite piece of clothing are a simple Thaï fisherman pants.

ed: What book or film would you recommend and why?

jmm: The Legend of 1900, a film from Giuseppe Tornatore, based on a novel of Alessandro Baricco.

ed: You have the chance to initiate a cultural revolution. What will you do?

jmm: I would stop working and promote the idea that our only wealth is to be and therefore to make the most of it.

ed: What is your favorite travel destination and what hotel/resort should everyone visit at least once in their lifetime?

jmm: My MIND.

ed: What was in your opinion the biggest ever faux pas in architecture/design/art/fashion?

jmm: Vanity.

ed: Who has influenced you the most?

jmm: Kurt Gödel: his thoughts, his visions, "his madness", and many others, Eisenstein, Young, Borjes, Rachmaninov... and Steve Jobs.

ed: How would you define “cultural identity”?

jmm: The cultural identity is not a definitive concept. It changes and develops along with history and with the interactions with our environment. It is not something immutable but on the contrary a dynamic process for social and historical evolution. Today, it may be a question of sharing perspectives rather than roots.

ed: When is an idea a “good” idea?

jmm: It is a good idea when it emerged as something obvious, an evidence in front of the stakes.

ed: And last but not least: you are entitled to a single question. What would you ask?

jmm: Why only one?