To bring you up to speed, design thinking is the process that innovative businesses are using to prototype their services & products. Essentially this process is a cycle of re-evaluating your business proposition by empathising with your customer or community in the prototyping of the service/product. A trend that was integrated in the 90’s as an understanding that we have had to move from an isolated right logical thinking orientated society to a society that integrates the left-brain creative faculties as well. This is now evident in the innovation of responses from businesses to the disruptive environments that they operate in.
These concepts are also utilised in a variety of industries. At Lefika, the primary principal is that empathy is promoted through art. That art (left brain faculties) facilitate empathy & so an access to therapy & counselling. Most of us are aware of “colour therapy” & relaxation practises of crafting. Crafting & art create safe spaces for us to be able to relax into engagement. It is when we relax that we allow ourselves to be able to open to possible engagement. It is only then that we can access learning & feel confident enough to share through our experiences. This is where the design thinking process activates a change in our reality. We access the human expansiveness of emphatic exchange. This is where community unfolds & design thinking becomes a way of creating your life & business. Creativity is essential.
Upcycle facilitates a variety of training & skill development in various communities through its core function of reinventing waste into usable quality products & making sure that waste avoids landfill as much as possible. This is a critical intervention for not only the preservation of our environment, but also for reigniting dignity for the individual & the community. Furthermore, Upcycle offers businesses opportunity to tap into this cycle by supplying products for their corporate gifts as well as design thinking leading team buildings based on crafting intervention for teams.