Last week, we were in London to observe the launch of the Vertu Constellation Smile, a mobile phone that Vertu created based on the Constellation touchscreen phone and dedicated to helping victims of cleft lip and cleft palates. Vertu committed one million pounds to SmileTrain, a non-profit organisation established by Charles Wang, to provide 5,000 children with surgeries to eliminate their cleft palate and cleft lip handicap and also provide speech therapy to those who need it.
Communication, something that we take for granted everyday, whether visual or conversational, is denied to many in the world due to accidents of nature that cannot be avoided or prevented. Cleft lip and palate defects are in-born and can occur to anyone. That is what prompted Vertu to partner SmileTrain, which works to provide opportunities and surgery that would be otherwise denied to children around the world, in this project. The company then invited Mary McCartney (daughter of Beatle Paul McCartney and sister to Stella McCartney) to produce a series of photographs that depict the lives of children living with cleft palates and the joy they experience after SmileTrain has helped bring a measure of normality to their lives through a simple surgery that many simply cannot afford.
With each Constellation Smile sold, Vertu has pledged to donate 200 pounds to SmileTrain, and bring joy to thousands of children around the world. Score one for luxury and charity. Find out more about SmileTrain’s efforts and Vertu’s commitment to Charles Wang’s charity here.
