HISTORY OF CHISELS
On 7 May 1954, an article appeared in Singapore’s local newspaper about a young man who devoted his time, after his working hours, towards the educating the less fortunate children in his neighbourhood. The title of this article, “Good Samaritan” was attributed to this man, Thomas Robert Fernandez, who converted his home into a mini-school for these children.
“The Good Samaritan” is a well-known story in the bible where a kind person tended to the injuries sustained by a traveller who was beaten up and robbed. This article caught the attention of an aged German herbalist, Jonas Hofmann, who subsequently contacted Thomas and expressed his admiration for Thomas’ sincere concern for the welfare of the unfortunate children in this neighbourhood. Jonas then shared with Thomas the formulation of an ointment, painstakingly researched by him, to treat body ailments at a relatively low cost. He found Thomas the right person to pursue this formulation which he felt would be put to good use for the less fortunate as a cheaper form of alternative treatment compared to conventional medical remedies that were expensive.
Thomas worked on this formulation and the ointment were made available to the people he came across who had the need for it.
This went on for years and in 1959, Thomas decided to make this ointment available to the public. He named this ointment as CHISELS and promoted it through direct selling by word of mouth with the help of flyers.
Why the name CHISELS… because the ointment can chisel away the aches and pains of the afflicted body says Thomas.
Years later, Thomas decided that CHISELS should reach out to a wider spectrum of the public and proceeded to make it available through retails outlets, and at the same time advertisements were taken out for promotional purposes.
Due to other commitments, Thomas did not pursue in manufacturing CHISELS on a large scale basis. Hence, he handed over the manufacturing rights of CHISELS to a local company, Absolute Tec & Services Pte Ltd (ATS), with an aspiration that CHISELS will one day be an international brand. Since then, ATS has been actively looking into realising the vision of Thomas.
CHISELS is now poised to take on the world with a new look for an international appeal through a marketing agency, Wellness A Plus.
