Thoughtworks Announces Intent to Acquire Strategic Design Consultancy, Handmade Design, to Boost CX and Design Strategy in Brazil

By Business Wire Last updated Aug 29, 2022

Thoughtworks, a global technology consultancy that integrates strategy, design and engineering to drive digital innovation, announced its intent to acquire privately-held, Brazilian-based Handmade Design, an innovation through design consultancy to generate business value for clients.

Handmade Design was founded in 2015 with a core value built around “learning by doing together”. This core value is reflected in the company’s approach to researching to discover clients’ true needs, aligning these insights with business goals and then allowing them to inform every step of the agile process from design to delivery. Today, Handmade has about 50 employees based primarily in São Paulo, Brazil with expertise across the design discipline and a strong capacity to perform strategic work in remote settings. Handmade Design has delivered more than 100 solutions to address the business challenges of large companies in Brazil such as Petlove, iFood, Santander and Itaú.

“At Thoughtworks, we believe good design can lead to better business decisions, whether a company focuses on physical goods, digital products, services or some combination of these,” said Guo Xiao, president and chief executive officer, Thoughtworks. “Handmade Design is recognized for its commitment to collaboration, learning and exchanging ideas as well as developing and designing together with clients. I am thrilled to welcome Handmade Design’s highly skilled team of strategists and designers to Thoughtworks. Their expertise in co-creating value to businesses will further empower our team in Brazil to build new connections between our client’s brands and people, powered by design.”

The close of the acquisition will see Handmade Design bolster and enhance the Thoughtworks customer experience, product and design service line in Brazil. Luis Felipe Fernandes, the CEO & co-founder, will report to Marta Saft, managing director, Thoughtworks Brazil.

“We are excited to become a part of Thoughtworks and the customer experience, product and design service line in Brazil,” said Luis Felipe Fernandes, the chief executive officer and co-founder of Handmade Design. “The Thoughtworks team shares our passion for placing clients at the center, understanding their behavior and values and building processes collaboratively with clients to innovate digital businesses through strategic design.”