Charitable Deeds

“The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.”

Francis Maitland Balfour



Firstly thank you for everyone’s very kind words on my previous blog about my new book, which is being launched worldwide on June 20. I will be in Milan for a signing on June 16, so if anyone was able to come along, it would be a pleasure to put a few faces to names (or comments!).



I love design, innovation and as you know charitable ideas. A project that seems to meet all of these criteria is a project called Shelterbox (http://www.shelterbox.org/). Shelterbox is an international disaster relief charity that delivers emergency shelter, warmth and dignity to people affected by all types of disasters worldwide. The box is delivered to families in the immediate aftermath of a disaster and each one contains a disaster relief tent, blankets, water storage and purification, cooking utensils, stove, tool kit and children's activity pack (I love that part), among many other vital items. In a world where mother nature is seemingly getting more and more angry with us, what with earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados etc, the Shelterbox is a brilliant simple, but effective idea. Donations can be made on the website.



The last thing I would like to show you is a short film that I worked on with a hugely talented photographer called Mike Penn. Myself and Mike have known each other for years, and worked together often, years ago. He has a wonderful creative eye, and is now concentrating a lot of his time on film making. He approached me about making The Tribute and I jumped at the chance of working with him. As usual, I would love to know everyone's thoughts and comments. We were very proud of the results and have already filmed the next video called Tame The Beasts, which I think looks astonishing (I may be biased), and is being edited as we speak.

Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zr1_UXJ7zc