Article22 launches Love is the Bomb jewelry collection

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Sep 30, 2016

Jewelry company Article22 launched this month its new Love is the Bomb jewelry collection. The Love is the Bomb collection, part of Article22’s first collection, consists of jewelry and home accessories handcrafted from Vietnam War era bombs, plane parts and aluminum scrap.

 
The new collection consists of diamond bangles, rings and jewelgrams. The Love is the Bomb collection features the collection’s phrase on all pieces, and the jewelgram necklace specifically is finished with a 1.7mm diamond. Prices range from $85 to $190.
 
To produce the collection, Article22 uses a special production process that was developed by a man of Ban Naphia in Lao that melted war scrap into spoons. The process, which was developed 40 years ago, transformed wreckage into useful objects, and today, Article22 uses the process to create jewelry while simultaneously clearing some of the 80 million unexploded ordnance, or active bombs, from 32 acres.

During the Secret War in Lao between 1964 and 1973, 250 million bombs dropped and 80 million failed to detonate. Co-founder Elizabeth Suda was inspired to launch Article22 after learning about the Secret War, the astronomical amount of active bombs in Lao and after meeting artisans that made spoons from melted US bombs.
 
“Design is both a decorative art and a functional tool that solves problems,” said Suda. “Our line is a virtuous circle in which scrap metal is transformed into jewelry with partial proceeds helping to clear unexploded bombs from the land, which creates a greater supply of scrap metal to transform into more jewelry - all while helping to heal the land and make it safe for farmers.”
 
Suda co-founded Article22 in 2011 with Camille Hautefort. Camille, who hails from Paris and has a strong international background, joined the brand to develop its business globally. In 2013, Manivone Sorabmixay joined Article22 to support and build the local supply chain. Today, Article22 employs over 40 artisans in Laos that are paid at least four times the local market. An additional 10% of profit is provided to support the village development of the local community.
 
“Design is another platform to raise awareness or more tangibly solve a problem,” Suda added. “The most impactful brands naturally have social good embedded in their DNA. Through design and supply chain, they are facilitators of doing good because they create relationships between their producers and consumers; each purchase has a direct benefit.”
 
The Love is the Bomb collection is available today on the Article22 website.