Principal Designer of Chestnut Grove, Francesco is a graduate of Industrial Design from Humber College, in Toronto and Product Design at the Istituto Europeo di Design, in Italy.

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During his residency in Italy, Francesco had the opportunity to work with prestigious companies such as Giorgio Armani and Bugatti Automobiles. His exposure to the Italian approach to design opened his mind to a single philosophical question, "where does creativity come from?" Constantly questioning the ability to see what doesn’t exist, his creative mind is always working to apply his abundance of knowledge and skills to build and shape new creations.

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Francesco's wide range of design experience both in Canada and across Europe allowed him to found Chestnut Grove with a unique perspective of design, engineering, problem solving and a passion for teaching his clients how to experience creativity as a key part of the design process. A recent collaboration with Craig Crane is leading the way in understanding how to teach students to put the pencil back in their hand. The concept is to inspire people to be creative again.