Pure Senses’ CSR Project – Light up a heART

I am happy to announce that our company’s CSR project has just been created in July 2010 out of the possibility of joy, abundance and making a difference in the world. Through this project, Pure Senses Pte Ltd will raise funds for various charitable and non-profit organizations by manufacturing and selling series of charity candles designed by artists whose art expresses joy and celebrates life.

The process of naming the project was rather fun and we came up with lots of different ideas, many of which we had a good laugh about. Noteworthy ones include Burn A Smile, which conjures up an image of children burning in flames, and Joy on Wax, which sounded rather kinky. Wan Pin eventually came up with the name Light up a heART and we both thought it sounded great. (Not to belabour the point but heART is spelt in CAPS since part of the expression of this project is through art. Anyway…)

This project really came out of a broader conversation Wan Pin and I had about where we see our business going. As we started to create the future for our business, the notion of having a business that contributes back to society kept showing up. This isn’t really unique to us because I believe all human beings, when free of constraints in life, would love to contribute to other people. However the way we talked about “giving back” lives inside of a someday conversation. Let’s do this someday when our business is stable; let’s do this someday when we make lots of money; let’s do this someday when our company is bigger and stronger. We know that if we continue to relate to this as a someday to-do, predictably it will not happen.

When we gave up this someday conversation, what showed up for us was the possibility of doing this now. And as we started to entertain the thought of doing it now, resources started to show up for us. We are the sole distributor for such fine candle makers as Yankee Candle and Price’s Candles, who are more than happy to customize products for us. We already have channels to sell these charity candles since our customers include such fine stores as Robinsons, Scandic Wonder, Takashimaya, Tangs and The American Club. Hence we decided we are going to work with various artists, both established and emerging, to create different series of charity candles, to support multiple charitable and non-profit organizations.

We are in the midst of formalizing our partnership with the artist for our inaugural series of charity candles and I am really excited to have her art featured on our inaugural series because her art puts a smile on my face every time. I’m sure you will feel the same. Once I receive the signed agreement, I will be able to announce who she is.