About Jo Petroni
Who I am
I'm based in France. I trained as an architect and practised for years, but the work I do now happens earlier than any drawing - at the point where someone is still working out what they actually want, before the decisions harden into walls and contracts.
Most of what I do is listen. People come to me with a move, a place, a change of life they can half-see, and we sit with it until it gets clearer. I am not invested in which way they go. That turns out to matter more than advice does.
People have been finding their way to these conversations for a long time, often without either of us calling it anything. A friend at a difficult crossroads. Someone met once who needed to say something out loud. At some point it seemed honest to give it a name and a door, rather than pretend it was a favour.
The through-line is the same as in everything I do: pay attention long enough and a place, or a person, starts to show you what it is actually asking for. Underneath what it first appears to want.
