Five Interesting Facts You May Not Know About Your Office
Your office without tea - The greatest theft of trade secrets in the history of humankind
In the Victorian era plant hunters began using the Terrariums to transport sensitive tropical plants around the world. One such plant was tea. In the 1840s these glass cases were used to successfully smuggle Chinese tea plants from China to India by an undercover Scottish botanist Robert Fortune. This industrial espionage became known as the greatest theft of trade secrets in the history of mankind. As a result, tea supply was now guaranteed and the price dropped so much so, that it became the most popular drink of all classes in Britain.
Your office in 2017 or 1827
Can you imagine if your office space existed in this exact place in the late Georgian era of the 1820s? You may be lucky and be positioned in a place with clean air and pollution free. But most likely if you’re in one of the big cities here in Ireland or the UK the air would be polluted with heave industry and fumes from fossil fuels floating in the air. This was the world around Nathaniel Ward, who designed the glass terrarium in 1827. His garden plants were dying, poisoned by the fumes from the city's factories. He found that plants could grow stronger and healthily under glass. He designed and crafted many styles, and they became known as “Wardian Cases”
Your Office and building team morale through building terrariums
Due to heavy work-loads at various times throughout the year, energy levels of individuals and working groups can fall and team morale negatively impacted. This is a challenge I see with our corporate clients and one that faces many HR Managers. However, Terrarium Building Workshops is an easy solution and one that promotes engagement, collaboration and having fun. The design and format of the workshop ensured individuals from different teams worked in pairs or groups of three. Their tasks involved problem solving, learning through doing and team building in an informal environment.
Your office and the wider appeal of terrariums
In order to apppeal to a wide range of people in your office. We will included a range of topics in the workshop.
- Terrarium History and Economics
- Plant Varieties and Plant Care
- Terrarium Design
- Everyone will take their handy work home and a reminder of the fun and collobartion
Your office and engaged, enthusiastic colleagues
Our experience of the Terrarium Building Workshops has proved to be a remarkable success with staff. People were engaged and enthused with the opportunity to learn and develop new skills. Individuals who would not typically engage directly with each other learned that they had shared interests and abilities. The formal feedback from our clients is so positive that many have decided to offer our team building workshops on a quarterly basis.
