Skiing is not a usual sport.
I know, every athlete says their sport is the best. Sure enough, I will not be saying this about mine. I think it is simply different. Skiing teaches you how to stay alone, to make sacrifices, to share but most importantly to grow-up quickly. A sport, a family, a passion, a parallel life to the one you got in this world. Just as the famous saying goes “those who can’t do, teach”, the training and the races quickly turned into teaching. Maybe it’s only now, after six long years of being a ski instructor, that I can confirm I am happy to not have continued doing but to have had the opportunity to teach. Sharing my passion for mountains and for my favorite sport with my students, I couldn’t ask for more. But that’s not the only passion today that I can draw a link to my new job within LaMunt being responsible for product management. Let me share my thoughts on what I’ve learned:
Skiing and LaMunt
LaMunt: My first ski lesson
Everything was new to me, everything was new to her. It all started as one of those new adventures, one of those where you have no idea what to expect. Just like your first ski lesson, you’ve heard a lot about it, you’ve envisioned how it would go, you’ve dreamt it. You showed up excited the first day, but also full of fear: “Will I be able to have a break? Will I go super-fast? Will the teacher be nice?”.
My first day in LaMunt felt just like that. So much curiosity and desire to learn, but also a bit of fear. The passion for the mountains lies in the slopes that my students master, it’s in their smiles when they learn how to break or when they land their first jumps. The passion for mountains lies amongst the snow-white stretches of fresh snow with my favorite people, in a solo hike with my best friend, my dog Lola. Mountains are first and foremost passion, LaMunt is passion.
Travelling and LaMunt
LaMunt: One of my long journeys
My second greatest passion is traveling. I like to see traveling and holidays as two different things though. When you travel you don’t rest or relax, you don’t come back home full of energy. Maybe put this way it looks like traveling is a punishment, let me try and explain it to you. Traveling means getting lost, lost in space, lost in time. You can be whoever you want to be while you are traveling, your sweetest self, or your most bitter self. Traveling is discovering something new, it’s about being scared a bit, but also about being enthusiastic and excited about the unknown. When traveling you open your mind because preconceptions, labels, or standards don’t exist. LaMunt is one of my long travels. It all started like this, with a backpack on my shoulders. I remember the first time I met Ruth, my boss, I had envisioned her kind of like Miranda Priestley (played by Meryl Streep) in the movie “The devil wears Prada”. Ruth turned out to be completely different. Determined, precise, and dynamic yet open, curious, humble, and a perfect multitasker. LaMunt has no labels and this is mainly thanks to her. Preconceptions don’t exist, we are all beautiful, different, crazy women full of energy. LaMunt’s strength lies here. An idea, a brand, a product conceived by combining the strength and energy of very different women united by one common vision. It all started with this common vision. From the fact that women often need to compromise between functionality and femininity and aesthetics when buying their outdoor garments, because finding one that values our shapes without restricting movement and flexibility is not that easy. We tried to address this from the very start by creating pieces that brought together physical activity in the mountains with sophistication, finesse – that extra nice touch, and attention to details. It was so exciting to see how an idea became a brand with its own name, identity, and style. I remember the moment when Ruth told me about her inspiration and initial logo ideas perfectly clear. Now LaMunt has an identity! It didn’t take much for me to dive into this new journey in which the most exciting part has been making the products come to life. Seeing the first sketches, their evolution, commenting, and choosing materials. From an idea to a brand to a product.
Drawing and LaMunt
LaMunt: My best drawing
The entire research phase becomes reality when you finally hold the first prototype in your hands, that first sample that helps you understand what to keep and what to improve. This exact moment deserves its own metaphor, the third one. I don’t consider myself a good painter; I think my creative touch lies somewhere else. I would say, my drawing skills are definitely more basic. But even if I’m not that much of a talent, I enjoy drawing, so I do it anyway. I believe there is something magical in the transition from an idea to creation. That feeling of giving life to something abstract, something that only exists in your head. LaMunt is just like a drawing. We thought about it, dreamt it, analyzed it, and went to work on it. Holding the first prototype in my hands was an incredible feeling, wearing it in the mountains was magical!
My first ski lesson, one of my long-lasting travels, my best drawing. For me, LaMunt stands for these three metaphors. It is turning belief into a reality that continues to grow and evolve. I am proud of everything we have created up until now and at the same time curious to see what it will all become.
