Giving the Gift of Deep Customization

When Amazon can get you almost anything within two days, somethings within two hours, and McDonalds can get you hot food within two minutes, you can have everything everyone else has. Well, almost everything.

Normal customization is the tailoring of the given product based on a specific set of limited options that a producer offers. For example, a custom builder makes customer houses by letting you choose the configurations according to the accounts and materials the builder has access to. Or, a suit maker has you choose from a variety of fabric they have in stock.

Based on the individual combinations that a patron makes, it may be possible to create a one-of-a-kind house or suit. However, towards the middle of the bell curve, most custom homes are all the same on the inside, save for a re-positioned chimney, different stones on the his/hers vanity, with or without stones on the front of the house.

In recognition of the services people have provided for us, what gifts do we give them? Is the recipient involved in selecting the gifts? In making the gifts theirs? Is a company branded Steel water bottle, or a JBL bluetooth speaker, or worse, an embroidered collared shirt, enough to recognize the value, the unique contributions that that individual made on our organization?

For many of us, entering business is a rewarding way to effect change on the world. Financial rewards are obviously fantastic, but each client helps us bring the world closer to our imagination. Our clients should also be rewarded.

Deep customization is a core focus of The Pattern House of Olonade. We define Deep Customization as the incorporation of the thoughts of the individual into the final product. We don’t use any invasive techniques to extract these thoughts, just deep questions. Answers to those questions are visualized through LiteWork. The result is a unique and distinctive pattern formed from their expressed thoughts. When this is done for families, we call it The Family Pattern Project. Giving the Gift of Deep Customization would enroll your clients and employees in that project.

Emerging from the pattern, the visual representation of their ideals, beliefs, philosophy, comes the second part of the Gift of Deep Customization. An immense amount of manufacturers specialize in Print-On-Demand capabilities. Their enterprises the production of individually, “one-off” customized garments, accessories, and goods for the home and automobile are possible.

One of our previous clients rang us and ask if we knew a good tailor up in DC. Why? The dashiki he previously commissioned was too much in the heat of the summer, he wanted it adjusted into a short sleeve. We came together and created a different garment completely, still incorporating his family pattern, but this time into a button-up short sleeve silhouette, for both the fancy and informal summer days and nights.

His wife, Adrienne, was with child and through our collaborative process we created a reversible swaddle, the bright pink is the inverse of their predominantly blue Family Pattern, with a matching robe in anticipation of the birth of their daughter!

We pride ourselves in creating one-offs of one-of-a-kind designs. Too often we’ve looked hard for something unique and have, after two weeks of wearing the garment, seen three other people wearing it. We no longer have that issues as some of the items we have made and use are our oven mitts, laptop cases, fanny packs, backpack, shirts, pants, and hair wraps.

Just how much would a client, or an employee appreciate being gifted the experience and opportunity to make something completely unique to them and for them? Just how wide can a smile be? How many lumens can be detected from shining bright eyes?

We think it might be counter-productive to quantify the lumens, the width of the smile, or the degree to which your heart warms in reciprocity. We are reminded of this adage, from Dame Marilyn Strathern, “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to become a good measure.”

To summarize, if we want to truly celebrate the unique contributions, the superlative efforts of an individual, the Gift of Deep Customization is the most elegant way to celebrate. Email me if you think giving the gift is an excellent choice for your organization.