Two Generations, One Dream
When people saw us working together in the Pyramid, they often had the impression that everything came naturally. A father with many years of experience. A son completely at ease in the world of new technology. It seemed like the ideal combination. And in all honesty... most of the time, it truly was.
But as in every collaboration, we had to learn to understand one another. Our partnership was not strong merely because we were different. It became strong because we were willing to listen to each other. I had grown up in a world where everything was tangible. You sold a coffee machine. You held a ceramic tile in your hand. You shook someone's hand. You looked someone in the eye. Marco had grown up in a different era.
To him, the computer was increasingly becoming a new window onto the world. Where I first thought about products, he thought about information. Where I spoke about representatives, he spoke about networks. Where I saw a catalog, he saw a digital database. At first, I had to adapt to this new way of thinking. Not because I doubted it.
But because it was an entirely new world to me. I often told him:
"Explain it to me one more time."
With remarkable patience, he began again from the start. He drew diagrams. Arrows. Connections. Until I understood what he was trying to explain. Then he looked at me and smiled.
"Do you see, Dad?"
And most of the time, I had to admit that he was right. But there were also moments when the roles were reversed.
Sometimes Marco arrived with an extraordinary technical idea. I would calmly ask him:
"And how will a tile dealer use this in practice?"
Then he would remain silent for a moment. Technology alone was never enough. A solution also had to be simple. Practical. And easy to use. So we began again. Not because the idea was bad, but because it still had to move closer to the people who would use it. I believe those conversations were among the most beautiful moments of our collaboration. We never tried to prove that the other person was wrong. We tried to understand one another.
It was precisely from that exchange that our best ideas were born. Marco brought the speed and enthusiasm of a new generation. I brought the experience of thousands of conversations with customers. He thought about tomorrow. I thought about how to turn that tomorrow into reality. Neither of us could have accomplished the same thing alone. We needed each other. And over the years, that became increasingly clear. I can still see us walking through the showroom together.
Sometimes Marco would stop suddenly. He would look at one of the displays. Not only at the tiles themselves, but especially at the way they were presented. Then he would say:
"We can do better."
I heard him say that countless times. I would smile.
"My boy," I would tell him, "with you, everything can always be improved."
And he invariably replied:
"Fortunately."
Even today, I hear those words in my thoughts. And every time, they bring a smile to my face. He was right. The day we think everything is perfect is the day we stop growing.
That was true for him. And for me too. Sometimes I was asked who was truly the driving force behind Piramedia. My answer was always the same.
"Both of us."
A dream never belongs to one person alone. It grows when people inspire one another. I tried to teach Marco many things. But he taught me at least as much. He showed me that age does not determine how far ahead a person can see. That a young man can see possibilities that someone from an older generation has not yet considered. And he restored to me some of the enthusiasm with which I myself had once begun my professional journey.
I will always remain grateful to him for that. When I think back on those years today, the difficulties that would follow are not the first things I see. I see two people who went to work with pleasure every morning. A father. And his son. Not because they had to.
But because they had the privilege of building something together in which they believed with all their hearts. Perhaps that is the most beautiful gift the Glass Pyramid gave me. The time I was allowed to spend there with Marco. The countless conversations. The ideas we shared. And everything we learned from one another along the way. Those conversations did not merely shape a company. They also strengthened the bond between us.
And if I could keep only one thing from all those years... it would be those moments. They are among the most precious memories of my entire life.