Devoto architects: who are they and what is their role in a company like this?

Devoto architects: in this short article we will find out who they are, what they deal with. What their skills are, and what can make a difference in their job.

During our workshops and lectures with univeristy students, we are often asked this question: what can an architect do in a company like Devoto?

3 questions for 3 architects

We therefore decided to ask some questions to three of our architects.

1. WHAT IS YOUR ROLE in the company?
2. HOW IMPORTANT IS IT to be an Architect/Interior designer/Industrial designer for your job?
3. WHAT PART of being an Architect/Interior designer/Industrial designer is mostly enhanced in your job? Would you recommend a new graduate to do your job?

Before reading their answers, though, we would like to share these thoughts.

Devoto architects: professionals with lots of potential

A new gradute in Architecture, Interior design or Industrial design can hold different positions and work in different departments in a company like ours. It depends on one’s own personality, general attitudes and soft skills.

A new gradute in Architecture, Interior design or Industrial design can be perfectly suited to work in the sales department or become an excellent project manager, a manufacturing engineer or a creative designer.

It won’t be easy to find out the best position for you, but there are some questions you can ask yourself:

Do you like travelling, meeting new people, talking to new clients?

Well, you will probably be a great sales manager, always in touch with clients but at the same time constantly surrounded by design, by new projects that you will need to study and evaluate.

Do you like worksite life, do you love the smell of wood and do you have a tendency to keep everything under control?

You were probably born to be a project manager.

Do you consider yourself to be calm, do you feel at ease behind a screen where you could spend hours? Are you keen to know how an object is made and to understand the constrution process behind it that made it possible to realize it?

You could be an excellent manufacturing engineer.

Would you consider yourself a creative person, do you like wondering how the places you visit could be transformed, furnished, improved? Are you particularly good at understanding what people want and turn their desires into real solutions they can easily imagine?

Well, you are likely to be a designer.

Of coure this is a simple and fun way to sum things up, because what it really takes to be a good professional – at Devoto as anywhere else – is the passion for architecture and design, sensitiveness towards harmony and beauty and a good will to put yourself out there.

And now the answers our people gave to the three questions we asked them!

We have interviewed:

• MARIANNA, Architect,  Sales & Marketing director
• FABIO, Architect, Engineering director
• MARCO, Industrial Designer, Senior Manufacturing Engineer
• VIVIANA, Architect, Senior Project Manager
• CAROLINA, Architect, Interior designer

1. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE your role at Devoto?

MARIANNA: Beside being – together with my sister and my father – the owner of the company, since 2014 I’ve been in charge of the Sales & Marketing department. My job is that of defining the company strategies, looking for the right target markets and setting the sales goals. I supervise a team of four people and together we manage the clients portfolio and the commercial negotiations. At the same time – even if it might e hard to believe – I design! I design the company, I design the way it should be today to get involved in great projects tomorrow!

FABIO: My job as engineering director is that of coordinating the resources in my department and making sure that the design goals defined by the company and by the the single project are achieved, granting the best performance in the development of executive projects.  All this always in full compliance with the CE standards and the company policy and methodology.

MARCO: My job as manufacturing engineer consists of drafting executive projects starting from the client requests and making sure that their expectations and desires are achieved. We can develop both executive projects, through drawings and descriptions that define the entire project, and constructive projets where all the construction activities and processes are engineered through 3D modeling programmes and CAM applications.

VIVIANA: As a Project Manager I am requested to manage the project as a whole. I need to get an overall vision of the general requisites but I also need to go down to details, coordinating the project team and all the works, as well as planning the activities according to the project requisites. I have to grant the achievement of the project goals and manage the three main variables, that are costs, time and quality as well as – of course – grant the client satisfaction. 

CAROLINA: My job is that of developing concept designs and preliminary projects for clients in the retails, residential and food world. I help the clients define their project through all the project steps, starting from the space layout to the choice of materials and colours, defining the right volumes and details. mio ruolo consiste nell’elaborazione di concept e progettazioni preliminari in vari settori come retail, private houses ma soprattutto food. Accompagniamo il cliente nella definizione del progetto attraverso le varie fasi della progettazione, partendo dal layout e scegliendo successivamente materiali e colori e delineando i volumi e dettagli.

2. HOW IMPORTANT IS IT to be an Architect/Interior designer/Industrial designer in your job?

MARIANNA: In Devoto Design’s sales department it is essential to be an architect and to have a proper technical background. Everytime we are requested to estimate a project, for instance, as a director and as an architect, I can easily analize and catch any possible technical and economic risk, being able to give a quick feedback to the client about the project feasibility.

FABIO: Well in my job being an architect is definitely important! Especially the wide knowledge architects have about construction and architecture in general – it can help you talk to all professionals involved on site without any problem. And this is important for the realization of the complex fit-out works Devoto usually deals with.

MARCO: Industrial designers (or product designers) usually deal with the design process behind mass production. This said, being an industrial designer in a company like Devoto can be extremely useful because you have the right competences to approach all the development steps of a project: from the analysis of the shape to the feasibility study, from the choice of materials to the creation of complex 3D models.  Industrial designers can also draft technical data sheets and assembly instructions and can easily interact with manufacturers.

VIVIANA: Being an architect in a company like Devoto can help you a lot to be a good project manager. My technical background helps me interact with all external stakeholders (very often architects like me) and with the engineers within our company – we speak the same language and can easily discuss any technical problem or need. It is also useful to know about worksites and construction works – it can help you better plan the project activities.

CAROLINA: Well, being an architect in my job is definitely essential! This background gives you the right methodology to face all kinds of projects, starting from the very first data collection activity to the analysis and definition of the goals that will define the design process.

3. WHAT PART of being an Architect/Interior designer/Industrial designer is mostly enhanced in your job? Would you recommend a new graduate to do your job?

MARIANNA: Absolutely. Becoming a sales manager can be the finish line of a journey. In a technical environment like Devoto’s it won’t be easy to start as a sales manager. To help clients understand the core of a project, its timeline, phases and processes through a speech, it is utterly important to have had a remarkable experience in project management. This will have you develop a problem-solving and proactive attitude. Is it enough? Not really. It is important to be good listeners, patient, curious and able to understand the client’s needs through empathy. This wil make it easier to get people’s and client’s trust and lead the way to new projects!

FABIO: Sure, I would. The ever-changing nature of the different projects, the need to always find new construction solutions, the care and attention to details.. these features that are part of being an architect are constantly encouraged in this kind of job.

MARCO: Yes, I would recommend a new graduate to do my job. Firstly because it encourages all the needs a designer has such as curiosity, creativity and spirit of innovation. But also and mainly because this job enhances the competence every product designer has and is keen on – the use of 3D modeling programmes.

VIVIANA: Yes, absolutely. Working in a dinamic environment like ours, where every project is different from the other for requisites and goals can definitely enrich your professional growth. Time and experience will also help you identify your strengths, you will learn how to work on your soft skills and you will find the best way to optimize work activities and plans.

CAROLINA: Yes, I would. Working in a manufacturing company like Devoto can help you have a real and more effective approach for what concerns the design of space and the definition of materials.

Thanks to all the employees that answered our questions about what an Architect can do in a company like Devoto.

Have you got a question or request for us? Send us a message:

[/av_textblock]