Sometimes they see the building but they don’t know what parents do inside. Ok, Safilo makes glasses but is that so simple? No, it is not and it is difficult to explain in a few words what happens at work.
This is one of the reasons why Safilo has decided to take part in the non-profit educational program Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Day on April 28, 2016. Mom and dads arrive at work as usual but with them are their daughters and sons, they can see the building, the offices… they learn and we learn with them, too.
First, the children need to understand what eyewear is, then, there is a game that is a lesson, a kind of anatomy lesson about glasses. Shortly after, all the components are explained and the children have to fill in the right new words in the picture of a pair of glasses. It seems easy but here comes the first challenge, indeed the children didn’t want the descriptions to be hidden from their view, but our volunteers stood firm and it turns out that our children are talented and can remember all the new eyewear parts they learned about!
The next step seems even easier, the children have to draw a frame and they have some examples in front of them so they can copy the shape. Soon they realize that is not just a matter of a couple of circles and two lines. It’s a hard job to design a pair of glasses and it is an even harder job to produce them, you have to be very skilled. The children really understand the strong craftsmanship to create stylish products with complete attention to detail.
Craftsmanship and technology are the souls of Safilo but how to explain this is difficult, technology takes several years to be developed, many people work on it and sometimes you don’t realize it when you are wearing your glasses. Luckily, in Safilo we have great examples such as the Elasta hinge and polarized lenses.
Polarized lenses has been invented by Mr. Land, the father of Polaroid, and it has been a great invention! Children test them and they can see the differences, the glare is reduced and so we have better vision…healthier vision. We, at Safilo, truly believe that we have the technology and the responsibility to improve one’s life, especially the eyecare of our children.
Another important moment is when the Trade Marketing department presents what POP is all about and children make POP materials by themselves using many different pieces of foam, cardboard, stickers and craft supplies. They are very creative and they have a lot of fun. We must confess that they gave us some very good ideas, after all, our kids collections are thought to be for children and who, are better than they, to have an enlighten point of view?
During the day, one child asked an employee why she has been at Safilo for 10 years and what does she like best? Her answer was “the people” and the best moment to see all of the people at Safilo is at lunch time. The children eat with their moms and dads…it is an important moment that usually don’t get to share…it’s an important combination of family values and a work life balance to have lunch with this big family.
At the beginning of the day we had welcomed all the children, we thanked their parents for bringing them to work and because we are proud of what we do, we want them to be proud of us, too! We work all the year round to produce something beautiful and something useful. We know that they will look at us with more informed eyes, they will understand if sometimes we will come back home a bit tired because we work hard for something important.