We had the good fortune of connecting with Nicolas Tissot and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Nicolas, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “Every artist was first an amateur” and I do agree with him. This affirmation is applicable to any kind of job or career, which was first a passion or an interest. The American painter Bob Ross also confirmed this point of view saying he “started painting as a hobby when (he) was little. (He) didn’t know (he) had any talent. (He) believed talent is just a pursued interest. Anybody can do what (he) do(es)”.
I truly think that passions are not found but they are developed. Author Angela Duckworth also shared this point of view. She stated that “passion is not discovered but it’s really developed”. If passion is just sitting in the wings waiting to be discovered, we do not have much control over it. It’s there, we just have to find it somehow… for a temporary passion for example. On the contrary, for a real passion, the kind that lasts, this kind that you build a life’s work on, we have had control over it all along from the start thanks to our hard work, our determination, our perseverance. I encourage you to read more about it.
Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I work in the Finance industry. I decided it when I was a young teen boy watching TV. People working in Finance fascinated me in the TV shows. I was always a good boy at school, who studied a lot and had very good marks. Since I’m a young kid I always wanted to perform well at school and achieve the highest possible degrees. It was not easy all the time and I sacrificed few relationships and several teen moments in order to achieve my goal but I’m sure I made a good decision. After years of study, good schools and several double diplomas, I achieved to validate my post graduate degree (+8 years). I continue pursuing goal with professional certifications in many areas in order to develop my know-how, improve my behaviour and learn new skills.
The best part of adult studies is that you can learn whatever you like and start over if you want to switch your career path. An important thing young individuals need to know is that school and good marks don’t do everything. That helps for sure but you can achieve great things in life walking our own path and doing things differently than others. Failure is not an easy process but it allows you to analyse what you know and what you don’t know, more importantly what you need to start learning or improve. We never stop learning in life!
My professional path allowed me to build a strong career, which help me develop my taste in art and culture and start my own fast growing art collection. However, I like to think that people don’t own art. We only purchase the right to have it at home and own it during a certain period of time before it goes to the next person. Art don’t belongs to few individuals but it belongs to all.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would confess that I’m not a social guy. I still work on it but I prefer staying at home when I can. Therefore, the compulsory lockdown was not difficult to live for me. Of course, I perform well in my daily work and I travel the world in order to visit art fairs or museums exhibitions and to attend special events. However, I’m a defender of new technology. Augmented reality, digital world and virtual machinery fascinate me. I wish I knew about it before starting my studies. I’m sure I would be in a different place now.
The world is changing and evolving in the good direction. I hope humans are going to improve in a good way. Dealing with new technology could frighten many but it’s not magic. Magic is science and technology that we cannot explain. NFTs, crypto-assets and crypto-currencies, nano technology, robots in surgery even drones, autonomous driving and GPS, etc. could not be imagined decades ago but it exist now. There are far more things to still discover. I wish I would live long in order to see what comes next. We use to say, sky is the limit. I would better say: space – and far beyond – is the limit.
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The Art Collector Hervé Lancelin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicolas_tis