A company anniversary: celebrating it in a craft workshop

Ten, twenty-five, fifty years in business, or a new office: a company anniversary is often celebrated with a dinner, a speech and a group photo. A week later the photo is what is left, and usually not even that ends up on a wall.

If you want something of the anniversary to stay, the most direct way is to make it together: a collective piece built by the team in a craft workshop, which after firing or finishing goes up at the office, where everyone walks past. Here are the shapes it can take, who to involve and what to ask before you confirm.

Why a piece made by many hands

An anniversary celebrates the people who built the company. A piece everyone has had their hands on says that better than a plaque.

• It stays at the office. For years, and every time a client or a new hire asks what it is, someone tells the story of the party.
• It puts everyone on the same level. In front of the clay, the person who has been there thirty years and the one who arrived last month start from the same point.
• It includes people who no longer work there. Retirees, former colleagues, founders who have stepped back: their hands end up in the piece too.
• It makes two celebrations instead of one. The workshop and, a few weeks later, the unveiling of the finished piece.

If the anniversary is also a way to thank the team, the rules for a reward that does not feel like an obligation are in the article on team building in Rome starting from the goal: they apply here too.

The shared piece: the shapes it can take

Among the formats for small companies with 10 to 30 employees, the shared piece takes up one line. For an anniversary it becomes the heart of the celebration.

• The tile panel. Everyone makes a ceramic tile, with a mark, an initial or a detail from the company's history; together they form a panel for the entrance, almost a mosaic. It is the easiest shape to organise, because pottery is the craft you find most often among the workshops.
• The set of signed plates. One plate each, signed by the person who made it: hung together on a wall, they are a portrait of the group in the anniversary year.
• The tapestry woven in turns. One loom and a shared pattern: people take turns during the party and each weaves a few rows. Suited to days when not everyone arrives at the same time.
• The wooden panel or the painted canvas. Worked by many hands, with each department taking care of its own part.

In the request you can tick more than one craft, or «Surprise me»; painting is not one of the options in the form, so write it in the notes. Weaving, woodwork and painting depend on availability: in our reply we tell you what can really be done in your area.

Or one piece each, linked to your story

If a single piece does not convince you, everyone makes their own piece on a shared theme: a bowl in the colour of your first catalogue, a tile that recalls one of your products, an object that speaks of the place where the company was born. The proposal tells you whether it can be done. Before everyone takes theirs home, display all the pieces together at the office for a few days: the entrance tells the story of the group.

Who to invite: retirees, former colleagues, families

The anniversary is the company celebration where it makes most sense to invite people who are not on the payroll too.

• Retirees and founders. Tell them first and well in advance. Their piece can sit at the centre of the work: a founder working clay next to the latest hire says more than any speech.
• Former colleagues. It works if the relationship stayed good and the invitation is personal, not an email to everyone.
• Families. If there are children, write it in the notes of the request: the craft, the tools and the timing change. One tile per family is a good compromise.

Count everyone in the number of participants: the form asks for the exact figure and the price in the proposal is per person. And for anyone who does not want to get their hands dirty, prepare a real role, such as collecting colleagues' stories or taking the photos of the day.

The format changes with the number of people

• Small groups, up to about twenty people: the Maker's studio is often enough, if the space allows, with everyone on the same piece at the same time.
• From about twenty to about a hundred: work islands, each with part of the piece, for example one row of tiles per department. The space can be your offices, such as a canteen or a large clear room, or a venue we find together with the Maker.
• More than that, or with families: the workshop as a station, open for the whole party, with people coming by in turns. Among the time slots in the form there is also «Full day».

These are guidelines, not rules: the proposal explains how it is organised in your case. For a warehouse or a production area, check first with your health and safety officer.

The running order: five minutes of speech, then hands

At an anniversary the owner's speech belongs, but it lasts five minutes: one story only, such as the first client or the year the company nearly closed, and then the design of the piece you are about to make. The turnover can wait for another occasion. Then, hands: the Maker explains the craft, everyone works on their part and the group photo is taken in front of the piece that is still unfinished. The toast comes afterwards, once everyone has washed their hands.

The second moment: delivery and unveiling

A collective piece usually does not go home the same evening: ceramics need firing and the piece comes back a few weeks later, while wood and fabric need finishing. It looks like a limit, but it gives you a second moment.

The unveiling can last twenty minutes: a coffee, the piece revealed at the entrance, the people who were at the party back in the same room. If the workshop is held a few weeks before the actual date, the unveiling can fall on the anniversary itself.

What to ask before you confirm

• Where and how it will be displayed. Final size and weight, how it hangs, whether it can take direct light or humidity. Choose the wall first.
• The finishing time. How many weeks it takes: that sets the date of the unveiling.
• How it gets back to the office. Whether you collect it from the studio or it arrives another way, when, and who takes care of it.
• If a piece breaks. It can happen in the kiln: better to know beforehand how it is handled.
• What can be written on the piece. A date, a name, signatures: it depends on the craft and the piece.

When to ask: two or three months ahead

You know an anniversary date well in advance, and that is an advantage: asking two or three months before leaves time to offer several dates, find a venue if needed and make the unveiling fall on the right day. For the timeline, the brief and the checklist there is the guide to creative team building for HR.

Three sample cases

Examples built to show how the choices change, not real companies.

• Ten years, a practice of twelve people. An afternoon in the Maker's studio and a set of signed plates, which after firing go on the meeting-room wall.
• Fifty years, a family business with a hundred and twenty people between employees, retirees and families. A party at the company premises, the workshop as a station for the whole day, one tile each; the panel is unveiled at the entrance a month later, with the founders in the front row.
• The new office, forty people. The move left an empty wall at the entrance: work islands in the largest room and a tapestry woven in turns, if weaving is available in the area, otherwise a tile panel.

How the request, the proposal and payment work

1. You fill in the request for companies: people, at least two dates (up to four), city, indicative budget per person, type of experience, the goal «Celebration / anniversary» and whether you already have a venue. In the notes, the idea for the piece and where you want to display it.
2. Within 24 hours we reply and within 2 working days you receive the proposal: what you will do, date and time, number of people and price per person, all-inclusive: materials, Maker and organisation. No commitment until you confirm.
3. To secure the date you pay online the amount shown in the proposal, with your VAT number and SDI code (or PEC), and you receive the electronic invoice.
4. You have a single point of contact for the whole organisation: Handsome. We take care of the Maker, the materials and the timing.

How to read a price per person is explained in the article on how much a creative team building costs.