The Secret Love Project - An Established Charity in Cape Town

Our Story

Various volunteers and heart-shaped initiatives for The Secret Love Project

Our Story

Spreading the love since 2014

The Secret Love Project is an urban artwork about love. Its a community collaboration and an official charity that helps the homeless living on the streets of Cape Town. It was created as an official project for World Design Capital 2014 in Cape Town. The theme for WDC2014 was "Live Design, Transform Lives" and artists were invited to submit proposals for works of art that could improve people's lives. Michael Elion conceived an urban artwork that would use the heart shape placed in city space to enrich the city by subliminally influencing people's perceptions of the city and in turn positively influencing their behaviour.

The Beginning

Initially heart stickers were placed on lamp poles throughout the city and sold from various outlets and people were encouraged to participate in this collaborative effort to beautify the city with hearts. Heart stickers were then given for free to the homeless and destitute to sell to uplift themselves from extreme poverty and to have meaningful exchanges with members of the community, centered around the idea of sharing love.

The Evolution

The project developed from a non-profit company in 2014 into a registered charity in 2018. With its enormous appeal to both the homeless beneficiaries and the community as a whole it has evolved into supporting hundreds of destitute, vulnerable and homeless people living rough on the streets of Cape Town. Every heart sticker sold helps the homeless person to survive and gives a memento of that exchange (heart stickers) to the person who has bought them. Through these positive interactions between strangers and the stickers visibility in public space, the project aims to spread a message of love in the world.

The Secret Love Project Charity Heart Campaign in Cape Town

Our Vision

To create The LovEconomy; a socio-economic system that prioritises and incentivises compassion, sharing and collaboration as building blocks of community prosperity. Its purpose is for communities to derive collective benefit and financial profit by helping each other and working together. Collaborating in building stronger, safer, healthier, happier and more inclusive communities. The currency that underpins all transactions in The LovEconomy is the heart shape.

Our Mission

Spread love in the world by helping the destitute to uplift themselves and feel welcome in society. We give free heart stickers to vulnerable members of the community to sell to the public (they keep 100% of their sales). This creates employment, reduces petty crime, and allows the seller to take care of themselves (food, shelter, clothing, hygiene) and their families. It instills a sense of purpose and restores their pride and dignity.

Our Vision

To create The LovEconomy; a socio-economic system that prioritises and incentivises compassion, sharing and collaboration as building blocks of community prosperity. Its purpose is for communities to derive collective benefit and financial profit by helping each other and working together. Collaborating in building stronger, safer, healthier, happier and more inclusive communities. The currency that underpins all transactions in The LovEconomy is the heart shape.

Our Mission

Spread love in the world by helping the destitute to uplift themselves and feel welcome in society. We give free heart stickers to vulnerable members of the community to sell to the public (they keep 100% of their sales). This creates employment, reduces petty crime, and allows the seller to take care of themselves (food, shelter, clothing, hygiene) and their families. It instills a sense of purpose and restores their pride and dignity.

Meet Michael Elion

Creating good vibes

The Secret Love Project was founded by South African artist Michael Elion. Michael studied architecture and philosophy and has an interest in making artworks that enrich the urban environment. The Secret Love Project started as a social engineering experiment using a symbol (the heart shape) to subliminally influence people's perceptions and behaviour in the city of Cape Town. It developed into a collaborative artwork with the city's inhabitants designed to spread love in the world. The artwork became a charity for the homeless and there are now hundreds of thousands of cars in Cape Town that carry the heart stickers through city space and contribute to the greater effect of the artwork and the charity. Hundreds of homeless and destitute people rely on the heart stickers for their income every day.

The Secret Love Project is both a non-profit company (est 2014) and an official charity, a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO).

Some of Michael's other urban artworks in Cape Town include: The large stainless steel glasses sculpture 'Perceiving Freedom' on the Sea Point Promenade; the stainless steel and faceted crystal hearts that hang between palm trees in front of Cafe Caprice (Camps Bay) and at The Grand (Granger Bay). He has also created real rainbows as artworks over streets in Cape Town (you can see more of his work at www.michaelelion.net)

Various artworks by Michael Elion, the founder of The Secret Love Project and volunteers around Cape Town