This month has been a big month for us as we prepare major projects to share with you and later this year, a couple new collections (coming very very soon)! In the office, we've also been thinking a lot about the way we work, and how we can improve our efficiency and cut back on tasks that don't provide immediate value to you, our customers. With this is mind, we thought we would share the ideas and principles that guided us through August.
- Lean thinking
One of our first team meetings this month addressed the concept of Kaizen. In Japanese, Kaizen simply means ‘change for better’. However, it is commonly known in the working world as a series of incremental changes that improve efficiency and quality of work. We gave ourselves this challenge: what can we do each day to speed up our work by 2 seconds? We want to cut out any processes or time that is wasteful, and refocus that time and energy into serving you better.
- Flexibility
Mid-month, we also gathered as a team to take the Big Five personality test. We found that every single one of us here are highly open to new ideas and concepts, different ways of thinking, and change. We think this is an important quality for us—both as individuals and as a brand—as we navigate the evolving designer accessories industry. We need to be flexible as a team in order to seek an innovative design or creative project that has never been done before.
- Playfulness
In a previous blog post, we shared our For Art’s Sake values. One of them is ‘Don’t be Boring!’ We found that the eyewear industry can often seem static and stuck in its traditional ways. We wanted to shake things up and make accessorising with sunglasses a lot more fun, and yet still retain its essential functionality. We are also experimental and playful with our photoshoots and social media accounts, always coming up with a new approach or aesthetic concept that is quirky, light and creative.
- Clarity
We write these blog posts because we want to retain clear, direct communication with you. We talk about the charities we partner with, and the materials we use in our sunglasses because we want to be transparent about our work. In the future, we’ll also be writing about our manufacturing processes. In the daily email exchange with clients and customers, we aim to make our messages concise, warm, and clear. Having clarity reduces stress, makes the brain more productive, frees up room to experiment, play and relax, and contributes to Kaizen. Killing all the birds with one stone.
Hope you got to know us a bit better. What values motivated you throughout this month?
'Til next time. FAS. x
