As part of the Living Business Program, Wood Couture participated in the preliminary event at the Expo 2020 UK Pavilion in Dubai last 29th of November.  Living Business is a program run by Globally and sponsored by HSBC that aims to help businesses in the Middle East become ESG ready. This year, more than 70 companies have joined the program from the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Egypt. A preliminary round gathered the best projects in their category (Small, Mid-Size and Corporate) to pitch their projects to a panel of industry experts. The program culminated in a “Get In The Ring” battle and the most impressive projects were awarded at a final ceremony.

Wood Couture is a result of a restructuring and rebranding of a 30-year-old family business, co-founded by Paolo Della Casa and Filippo Sona, in the business of custom manufacturing for hotels and luxury residences. The company has created an in-house standard for total quality management for project-based manufacturing. It leverages the same to produce custom furniture, joinery, decorative accessories, and contemporary artwork for hospitality projects. As the organization started to grow, the owners found that the team composed mostly of women. Naturally, the first initiatives for its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) gravitated towards supporting women and pushing forward diversity and inclusivity in general. Wood Couture believes that a sustainable business is a diverse and inclusive environment - all genders, nationalities, and capabilities. In 2021, the company started to work on its CSR strategy and joined the Living Business Program to help accelerate its initiatives.

“We are still at the early stages of building and implementing our CSR initiatives and we are humbled to be chosen to participate in such an amazing event. With the guidance of Globally, we have started our journey towards becoming more responsible members of the global community.”, Wood Couture Co-founder, Filippo Sona.