Perfectly Imperfect
If you’ve been following along with the MISSIO journey, you won’t be surprised to know that Lorin and I (Kyle here!) have VERY high standards for our products and the way our company is run. Those standards are deeply rooted in our belief of our PURPOSE. This whole vision began because we wanted to create that strongest platform possible to inspire and empower stylists and their clients to fight human trafficking. We wanted nothing to deter us from this vision, so we created PRODUCT that stylists and their clients would love so that our collective efforts could be carried forward in a strong, growing, and sustainable way. We couldn’t be more proud of how far we’ve come and where we’re going!
Every element of our brand is meant to capture this journey: the gritty humanity of the city combined with the life-giving, healing of the sea…we even tried to capture that in our lovely fragrances! Well, from day one, our customers of been in love! Over and over, we were asked to make candles so their homes and businesses could be filled with MISSIO scents all day everyday. Never ones to back down from a challenge, we plunged into the world of candle-making! We considered finding a third party manufacturer, but we couldn’t find anybody who could meet our standards (ironic…read on, and you’ll see why!).
So, we decided to make them here at MISSIO. After months of trial and error in my own kitchen, we launched our candles last week, and they SOLD OUT IN ONE DAY! We couldn’t be more grateful.
As I’m playing catch up with our orders this morning (in addition to pouring our own candles, we custom make each wooden lid with the MISSIO logo branded), my high standards are being challenged.
You see, each lid is IMPERFECT! The wood grains are different, some have dents and are rough around the edges. Some of the branding is off-center, or the wood responds to the heat differently. None of them are perfect, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
At first, I was very frustrated…then I was absolutely delighted in what this process was teaching me. There are so many things about our lives that are completely imperfect, but that is okay.
THERE IS UNIQUE BEAUTY IN IMPERFECTION. It should be celebrated!
This has been such a great reminder about all of us, about MISSIO, about the thousands of people who are in dire situations right now who we seek to help.
Our wooden candle lids represent this. Every time we sand one down and place our logo on it, we celebrate the imperfections, the uniqueness of each lid, the reality that nothing is perfect in this world. We choose to see the beauty in each divot, uncentered placement, rough edge, etc. Just like all of us, they’re PERFECTLY IMPERFECT.
Sometimes, we need to place our high standards to the side and celebrate the imperfect, the uniqueness, the differences, the hardships. We at MISSIO believe that this is where TRUE BEAUTY exists, and we’re here to help you see it.
We hope you remember this every time you remove your perfectly unique and imperfect wooden lid and enjoy our uplifting, life-giving candles…a beautiful representation of hardship and healing.
With love and gratitude,
Kyle Van Zandt (Co-Founder, MISSIO Hair)