One of the panels I’ve been sitting on here in Rio has been addressing CSR (corporate social responsibility) in the luxury space. It can often be tricky to find case studies where a company’s CSR activity feels properly integrated into the heart of the business — not only the marketing budget — with benefit across not just fundraising, but awareness, empowerment AND legacy too.
So I was thrilled to be able to talk about the opening last week of the Old English Garden at Battersea Park, sponsored by Jo Malone (the company, not the person which are now two separate things), and planted and maintained by the gardening charity Thrive, under the design of Sarah Price.
Jo Malone could just have picked on this neglected garden at Battersea, commissioned a planting scheme, promoted it to the press, and left it at that. But instead, they partnered with a small national charity, Thrive, founded in 1978, that uses gardening to change the lives of disabled people, and committed to the ongoing gardening project, thus fulfilling all the CSR objectives listed above.
Gardening can help individuals accomplish many things. It can help rebuild a person’s strength after an accident or illness, and can provide a purposeful activity for someone coping with a difficult period in their life. Thrive’s activities are varied but focus on championing the benefits of gardening to individuals and organisations, as well as teaching techniques and practical applications so that anyone with a disability can take part and enjoy gardening. A research programme underpins Thrive’s work to provide evidence and improve understanding.
Jo Malone put an invisible awning up over the pergola and invited 30 or so journalists and editors to breakfast to experience the garden for themselves.
(I was rather taken with the waitstaffs’ Dr Marten floral footwear.)
The garden is clever in that it hasn’t been subordinated in any way to Jo Malone branding. There are a very few plaques in the beds, each pointing the visitor to various horticultural ingredients: I spotted rose, pomegranate and basil.
The planting is ravishing; great drifts of pink and of white Valerian look romantic and so pretty. As the seasons change, so will the flowers and I look forward to returning during the summer to see how the garden is evolving.
The garden is open to anyone — for free — and is the most glorious space for just sitting, thinking and reading. Do go check it out.
Jo Malone have plans to take this concept, & roll it out across other territories, so I’m excited to see where they go next with this.
Thrive www.thrive.org.uk
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How very pretty, and I love the integration of CSR with an organisation using a charity that helps disabled people through gardening. I’m not disabled, but I can see why and how it would be of great benefit to the disabled from a personal experience. I underwent a pretty nasty back injury some years ago and was devastated to find I couldn’t garden as I did previously, as I kept winding up in the emergency room (pumped full of morphine, losing another day or two of my life, not fun!) Not being able to garden made me very frustrated, so through trial and error I kept at it and I did manage to figure out how to get my hands in the dirt without injuring myself further. I’m glad too, gardening has been one of the most therapeutic and spiritual (yes, honestly so, in many ways) hobbies I’ve ever taken up. Thanks for this post, now I’ve another place to add to my London list for my next visit! XXX Suzanne
It certainly is refreshing to see a company’s CSR so in line with the brand….. It often only too obvious that it’s just an obligation, but it seems in this case that the brand is committed to the concept and that’s very endearing.
I’ll certainly have to check out the garden with the cameras soon….. the one upside with the rain is that everywhere looks so lush!
Wow, that is such a nice story. So often big companies and brands loose sight of the real reason behind CSR and it becomes all about what they can get out of it rather than what they are giving back.
This is really inspiring and looks like a lovely place to visit for a bit of peace and quite reflection, so thank you for writing about it!
What a lovely idea. It’s so nice to see a company really think through a concept that will benefit a lot of people (and not just their own name). I’ll have to check it out the next time I’m in London.
And the breakfast menu looks the business! I’m off to try and recreate my own rhubarb lemonade.
Calm flower colors relax me.
This garden really looks amazing.And I love the shoes, too .
The garden is very beautiful. I like it very much. It inspires me. I have a wide enough garden and want to plant flowers on it to benefit others. I need many flower seeds. Anyone can help?
Wonderful garden. They did a great job with this. If I am ever in the UK I will go visit.
Oh I’m slightly in love with this place. Definitely on the list of places to visit now. Wish I could experience that lovely outdoor lunch table though.
Beautiful – and such a great way to implement CSR. The menu doesn’t look to too shabby either! Great photography, what camera did you use out of curiosity?