Global gardening giant Fiskars is launching itself into the UK in true Re-Everything style. Fiskars Orange Thumb is a scheme that provides funds, tools and materials to gardening groups who want to clear up their community green spaces.
Launched by Fiskars in the US in 2003, Fiskars Orange Thumb has already helped hundreds of garden groups in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
For every thumb that comes into contact with their PowerGear® pruner, be that literally or virtually, Fiskars will add more money to the Fiskars Orange Thumb fund. Which means more grants available, more ad-hoc community garden projects, and more beautiful, tidy, well-kept green spaces for us all to enjoy.
Fiskars began as an ironworks in the small village of Fiskars, Finland in 1649 and is now one of the western world’s oldest companies. Over the centuries Fiskars manufactured a wide variety of consumer and industrial products including steam engines, plows and cutlery.
By 1992, all factory production in the village had ceased and this beautiful and historic place was dying.
To remedy this, Fiskars (the company) sought out artisans, designers and artists and invited them to live and work in the village. They brought with them a new vitality and transformed the village of Fiskars into a much acclaimed centre for Finnish art and design. The village is now a popular tourist destination offering visitors many things to see and do throughout the year.
Sustainability is high on the agenda of this great company, from the way that they use nature itself to inspire the design of their tools, to the way that they recycle every tiny scrap of metal, and offer a lifetime guarantee on all of their Finnish-made garden tools.
Fiskars Orange Thumb is a great example of joined up/joined in thinking. To find out more (and register your ‘thumbprint’ of support), go to www.orangethumb.co.uk
