Play is a form of exploration, and it begins with the environment we have at our fingertips. This is Lee Kim’s approach to play, and it permeates the work she does in what we might consider one of the most serious of environments.

Lee is a design strategist and community builder, based in New York She studied mechanical engineering and fashion design. She serves as Global Congress Lead at Pfizer and is the founder of a social impact nonprofit called Design Dream Lab.

Things to consider

• You can signal to people to find out who’s up for playing. It can be uncomfortable to begin with, but that’s how we find playmates.
• It’s possible to make joy a core value of your organisation, even at a large scale.
• Things are more memorable when we play with them, physically.
• The things we make embed themselves in our memory.
• We’re built for togetherness.

Links

• Design Dream Lab
• How Wearing Silly Hats Helped a Mom Find Joy – the New Yorker documentary
• Make Work Play
• Playfilled