Explore Peru’s Sacred Valley with ID

The Institute of Design, in partnership with Murmur Ring and Empathy, is offering Reclaiming Value: Sacred Valley Design Immersion—a four-day immersion in Peru’s Sacred Valley to explore design implications in a region undergoing rapid change and apply learnings to their own industries and practice.

On December 17 at 6pm, ID Dean Anijo Mathew, Empathy CEO and ID alum Rodrigo Isasi, and Murmur Ring Founder Ashley Lukasik will host ID alumni, partners, and community members for a discussion about the upcoming Reclaiming Value: Sacred Valley Design Immersion. Here, our event panelists discuss why the immersion model and Sacred Valley region are relevant to design leaders and innovators, particularly ID alumni.

Ashley Lukasik:

Thank you both for taking time to discuss our Reclaiming Value immersion. It’s incredibly exciting to collaborate with you directly in the design of this new immersion.

I wonder, what is it about the immersion model that resonates with you most and has led you to collaborate with Murmur Ring on the Peruvian experience?

Anijo Mathew:

ID’s network is uniquely inquisitive and engaged, and this is an important moment—the right moment for us to convene the thinkers that will take us into the next era of human history. The best, most memorable way to do this is still in person. Murmur Ring excels in designing these immersive experiences that allow creative thinking and discovery to take flight. I can’t wait to see how ID alumni and community members come together this June and what they make out of this experience.

Rodrigo Isasi:

As an ID alum, all of what Anijo said resonates with me deeply.

Designers cannot innovate for positive impacts unless we get out into the world and truly see how people live.

Something that stuck with me following the Making and Identity in Oaxaca immersion was mentioned in the piece I wrote for Gestión: the emphasis on intergenerational intelligence. I posed the question in my article: What would happen if the world’s leaders further developed intergenerational intelligence? I explained in the piece, but I think it’s worth mentioning again that I really do believe that if we lead, create, and scale solutions in the service of others, our efforts of today will transcend to our futures.

I hope our Reclaiming Value immersion will be a chance for participants to consider this.

Ashley Lukasik:

Given the diversity of expertise and points of view of our Sacred Valley immersion partners, I’m sure it will be. And Rodrigo, perhaps you can set the stage for the December 17 event by providing some of your thoughts on why Peru is the right location for this immersion?

Rodrigo Isasi:

As many people know, Peru’s Sacred Valley has been a spiritual destination for centuries. This is because of the region’s agricultural fertility, astronomical alignment, archeological sites, and so on. But what many people do not realize is that today the region is experiencing an influx of new development, technology, and tourism, mostly thanks to the pioneering gastronomy developments led by the partners we will visit during the immersion. This new context is a double-edged sword. Now is a critical moment to consider design’s role as a medium to harness opportunities and mitigate risks associated with this accelerated popularity.

Anijo Mathew:

Around the globe, we are discovering the potential and pitfalls of AI, its implications for our current world, and the possibilities it can represent. In-person experiences with creative thinkers are the first step to new possibilities.

Our most recent immersion with Murmur Ring resulted in new discoveries, insights, and partnerships. By partnering with you on the Sacred Valley experience, ID will be able to extend the impact of this immersion model beyond current students and to our international alumni network.

Ashley Lukasik:

And what’s interesting is that while we will have a uniquely Peruvian experience exploring these contexts, our investigation of these ideas will be designed so that immersion participants can apply learnings to their own industries and practices when they return home.

I’m looking forward to discussing these ideas further with you both and ID alumni at the event on December 17!

Anijo Mathew is Dean and a Professor at the Institute of Design focused on entrepreneurship and urban technology. His research evaluates new models of innovation enabled by technology and media convergence through the lenses of design fiction, design-led innovation, and entrepreneurship. He works with global organizations to adapt and change strategic responses to transforming technologies.

Rodrigo Isasi is a digital transformation leader and business design strategist. An alumni of ID’s Master of Design Methods (MDM) program, Rodrigo recently launched Empathy, a Peruvian-based design and innovation company that empowers organizations to make bold moves through human-centered solutions. Rodrigo is committed to reshaping the present to craft a brighter future, combining a deep understanding of people, business, and technology at Empathy to create solutions that drive both organizational success and transformative impact. Connect with Rodrigo.

Ashley Lukasik is founder and CEO of Murmur Ring, an immersive experience design and storytelling agency based in Chicago. She curates powerful experiences to help innovators and leaders accelerate their strategic aims and has built her career exposing organizations to human-centered design as a means to respond to complex challenges for which they do not have a preexisting roadmap. She co-produced The New Bauhaus feature documentary and her work has appeared in Architectural Digest, Design Milk, The New York Times, Forbes, and more. Connect with Ashley.