Collaborators need time apart

Paper Giant's studio is designed, both physically and through our processes, to foster collaboration. We get people in the same space and on the same page to bring their distinct skills and experiences into the design process. So this piece is a good reminder for me that time apart also benefits collaborative projects: we're given space to ruminate, let our brains do their mental digestive process, and return anew.

But it's not easy: almost every obligation, from work to social, tends to get prioritised above alone time. In Sara Maitland's words:

"How have we arrived, in the relatively prosperous developed world, at least, at a cultural moment which values autonomy, personal freedom, fulfilment and human rights, and above all individualism, more highly than they have ever been valued before in human history, but at the same time these autonomous, free, self-fulfilling individuals are terrified of being alone with themselves?"