For the fourth year, LOEWE has collaborated with the wildlife campaign Knot On My Planet to create a limited-edition Elephant bag and donate 100% of the proceeds to the Elephant Crisis Fund. Working with the Kenyan non-profit Samburu Trust, this year’s basket bags are made from woven raffia and feature large colourful eyes hand-beaded by Samburu artisans.
Continuing LOEWE’s commitment to preserving ancient crafts, this edition of the Elephant basket bag celebrates the centuries-old beadwork tradition of the Samburu people. The craft has been passed from generation to generation, creating the vibrantly patterned collars, headdresses and jewellery for which Samburu culture is renowned. With different colours and patterns conveying specific meanings, the beads are traditionally used to mark important life events and create a rich visual language.
The bags are available on loewe.com, and bergdorfgoodman.com.
KOMP
Knot on My Planet (KOMP) is a campaign with the goal of bringing elephant poaching and the ivory crisis to the forefront of the conversation, leveraging influential people, companies and brands within the fashion and luxury industries while raising money for the Elephant Crisis Fund (ECF). KOMP plays on the age-old act of tying knots to remember and elephants’ legendary long memories. Co-founded by Trish Goff and David Bonnouvrier, KOMP launched its first social media initiative on 9 September 2016, garnering over 1.5
billion impressions via Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat. To date KOMP has raised $14 million for the ECF.
Elephant Crisis Fund
The Elephant Crisis Fund (ECF) is a joint initiative of Save The Elephants and the Wildlife Conservation Network, set up in partnership with the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 2013. The ECF funds the best ideas and most urgent actions by highly vetted conservation organizations working to safeguard the future of elephants. 100% of every donation goes straight to the field, with zero overhead. To date, the ECF has supported 386 projects from 100 organisations across 41 countries and inspired donations of $33.8 million. The organisation pledges to continue its support of these effective programs until the ivory crisis has ended and elephants are no longer under threat.
Samburu Trust
The Samburu trust unites knowledge, people and innovation to protect Samburu, Kenya’s northern frontier district, the greatest wild rangeland on Earth. Its focus on protecting elephants and wild places, empowering local people and putting traditional knowledge and systems to work, has been shaped by the people and land where it all began. Working with Samburu craftswomen, the trust builds sustainable livelihoods that continue their traditional beadwork craft and protects a thriving rangeland.
