We are delighted to announce the publication of our new book which tells the story of one of the most interesting people we have ever had the pleasure to meet, Walter Mancini, one of Brazil’s most famous restaurateurs.
This book came about after we included an interview with Walter in the final chapter of Customer Experiences with Soul: A New Era in Design, published in the UK in 2017. Our aim for Customer Experiences with Soul was to write about customer experience design which approached the discipline in a way which had never been discussed before. It is a book which links the tools, techniques and frameworks for developing customer experiences with soul with an exploration of the questions of authenticity, purpose and human values.
Walter’s love of art and food, and his continual attention to the experience of his clientele, have resulted in the one of the most delightful and enchanting dining experiences in São Paulo. He deserves high praise for his restaurants, creating such a festive and joyful experience for us to explore, contemplate and plunge into.
Our conversations with Walter were a wonderful opportunity for us to meet the person behind the restaurants, and behind his vision of Rua Avanhandava, the road along which all of his restaurants are located, a region which he has regenerated and brought back to life in the heart of the city. Although we had only meant to record a short quote for our book, something really quite remarkable, enchanted, magical even happened when we switched the recorder on, something quite unexpected.
While Walter has of course been interviewed numerous times and is already well known internationally as one of São Paulo and Brazil’s most successful restaurateurs, what emerged from our conversation was a picture of Walter which had never been revealed to the world before. In fact, having read our interview with him in our book, he remarked that none had ever approached the depths and levels of profundity which we had been able to reach.
For this reason, Walter approached us to see if we would like to work with him to turn our final chapter eight into a new book. He saw this as an opportunity to share his incredible story and his philosophy with all of his clients who visit his restaurants. Over the course of a number of weeks, we met up with Walter a number of times to record more of his anecdotes and philosophy. Our vision was to create a book which would allow people not only to read about Walter, but to have a genuine and profound encounter with him, as we had done. In Walter we found someone who epitomises Customer Experiences with Soul, from his authenticity, his values, generosity, ways of working, his systemic vision, his understanding of nature, and his awareness of his story, his place in the world, and his very being.
Our new book, titled Chapter Eight: An Encounter with Walter Mancini, has been lovingly crafted on cream-coloured paper, and illustrated with both figures and photographs. In addition to the original chapter eight from Customer Experiences with Soul, we also included an introduction and an extended epilogue. It is published in Portuguese and is available from Manchini’s restaurants in Rua Avanhandava, São Paulo. All proceeds from the book will be donated to Fraternidade Irmã Clara, a social project which cares for people diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
