Design professional Lorinda Mamo is to set up a blog at the end of the month to showcase the stories behind businesses, ideas, and products.

We rarely talk about the real means to the end

The blog, at www.dcs.com.mt, will be written by Ms Mamo and others who will talk to a range of people whom she has encouraged to tell their story. An architect, photographer, and a jewellery designer are among the first to agree to feature.

Ms Mamo, who set up an agency, Design Chronicle Studios with her husband Randolph in 2010, is intrigued by what spurs people to set up shop or go about realising an idea into a tangible product.

“Every design has a story,” she told The Sunday Times. “Whoever is behind it was inspired by something else. We always talk about a finished project or a new venture but we rarely talk about the real means to the end.

“This blog will allow people to relate what sparked the idea and why, the thought process and the creative phase, how people built their teams, and how they went about setting up a business or launching a product.”

A combination of text and pictures will draw on people’s emotions, so readers can identify with the various phases, learn from experiences, open their eyes to failure, or emulate successful methods.

Ms Mamo explained that people were more inclined to relate to stories as they became increasingly engaged: Stories will go behind business signage, logos, and brands.

The blog will be open to people involved in a variety of activities, including sole traders, people running small ventures from their home, professionals, family businesses, and large firms, with their ideas, designs, and products.

“The blog will take the form of chapters to relate specific episodes of people’s journeys in instalments in chronological order,” Ms Mamo said. “We hope to engage followers better this way. The stories will make up the chronicles.”

Born in Toronto to Maltese parents, Ms Mamo studied biology, psychology and physiotherapy before she moved to Malta 13 years ago.

She is determined to focus on what makes Maltese people tick within the local culture, their talent and potential, but is aware of the reluctance she will face from people operating in a small business community.

She hopes the first chapters of the blog will encourage other people to open up about themselves and talk about what spurred them to pursue ‘silly’ ideas, how they plucked up the courage to take the plunge, and how they dealt with risk.

Ms Mamo hopes to be able to consolidate the stories and collect them in a book at the end of the project.