VINCENT BAISNÉE & MADDALENA CERRUTI

Age: 30 and 32

Where do you live: both in Imperia (IM)

Profession: Architects and a bit of a craftsman

A brief presentation of you:

Hello!

We are Maddi and Vince and we are a couple in life and at work.

We met on a construction site for a Belgian NGO in Tanzania: we were building a house for a doctor in a Maasai village. The rooms of the house were covered with Nubian vaults made of earth bricks.

Both of us studied architecture: Vincent in Nantes (FRA) and Maddalena in Genoa (ITA), and both of us, in different ways, became passionate about vernacular and eco-friendly architecture and self-construction.

It is on these three themes that our architecture and DIY studio-atelier was born: maviatelier.

maviatelier ‘s first major project is the renovation of our house: the restoration of a stone ruin in the hinterland of western Liguria using natural and/or eco-friendly materials.

Favourite Blåkläder garment:

The 2450 shoes are super comfortable!

Do you have a hidden talent?

Knowing how to DIY and speaking languages (we speak 4 each)

If you were an animal what would you be?

Wolves, like our Caiù!

What is your perfect working day like?

Our job fortunately allows us to change activities often: no two days are the same!

Vince has dedicated the last three years of his life entirely to renovation, studying new techniques and materials, supervising workers and doing the work himself whenever possible.

Maddi works as an architect and devotes herself to managing other people’s renovations, alternating between site visits, planning and a lot of (too much) bureaucracy to deal with: building permits, land registry changes, expense accounting and so on… on her days off she works alongside Vince on the building site at home.

Three things to do in life :

• HAVE PATIENCE, dedication and attention to detail, know how to wait.
• LISTEN, foster empathy and respect for those in front of you and for the system in which you live.
• BE CURIOUS towards new disciplines, traditions, cultures and places different from one’s own.