Everyone has watched in disbelief as the innocent people of Ukraine are targeted in an unnecessary war. We at Design Diary have been hoping to come across an effort in our industry that will generate aid so we could promote the opportunity. This week Design Miami/ announced they have launched Design for Ukraine, a fundraising program that supports GlobalGiving’s humanitarian efforts on the ground in that country. Between now and June 2022, this multiphase effort will bring together donated design objects in charitable online sales on the Design Miami/ website.
For this first phase of Design for Ukraine, Bocci has gifted over $150,000 in lighting and decorative objects now being sold online. All proceeds will be dedicated to GlobalGiving’s Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund, which provides urgently needed humanitarian aid, with a focus on the most vulnerable, including children, by providing shelter, food, clean water, health, psychosocial support, and other critical help. Each image in this post links back to the product shown, each of them for sale.
In the storied tradition Design Miami/ has maintained from the start, the products offered here are of the highest quality and the most artisanal in nature. Case in point is how the colors of the glassware in the vessel sets shown here result from jealously guarded formulas in the Czech glass-making tradition, some of which date back to the 1600s. These formulas are in the custody of various glass masters in the Czech Republic, passed on and refined from generation to generation, often employing peculiar and arcane ingredients such as animal bones, plants, and minerals gathered from the Czech countryside.
As they launch the first phase of the project, its organizers are determined to help as many people as possible caught in the middle of the escalating humanitarian crisis. “The response from the international community has been swift, damning, and clear—from mass protests and government sanctions to businesses shuttering operations in Russia and citizens opening up their homes to the forcibly displaced,” they note. We at Design Diary are eager to add our editorial voices to the outrage.
Bocci is a Vancouver- and Berlin-based design and research laboratory founded in 2005 under the creative directorship of Omer Arbel. The manufacturer has stepped up in a big way by offering the signature pieces they produce, many made specially for this initiative, which range in price from $280 to $35,000 USD, and include unique and limited-edition glass chandeliers, lamps, and tabletop vessels.
The two 84.2 vases featured here, a purple above and a red below, are handcrafted by suspending bubbles of pigmented glass within fine copper mesh baskets that are then plunged into hot clear glass. Air is blown into the matrix to gently push the pigmented glass through the mesh, creating a delicate pillowed form that rests inside the thick outer layer of clear glass. Undulations in the exterior shape are a natural consequence of the process and differ in each piece produced. The aperture is flared open, cut and finished, allowing the piece to function as a vase while also expressing the unique outline of the copper mesh along the perimeter.
Bocci representatives had this to say about their involvement in the effort: “We are deeply concerned by the humanitarian crisis in the Ukraine and want to support efforts to help the ongoing emergency situation faced by the Ukrainian people.” This first phase of the fundraiser will run through the end of April, and will be followed by the introduction of additional design material offered from galleries and creatives in the Design Miami/ community.
The Design for Ukraine initiative is produced in collaboration with Anava Projects, a creative agency overseeing Design Miami/’s philanthropic and editorial efforts founded by longtime collaborators Anna Carnick and Wava Carpenter. Together and individually, they have spent the last 15+ years bringing design to life for international audiences.
GlobalGiving is the largest global crowdfunding community connecting nonprofits, donors, and companies in nearly every country. The organization helps nonprofits from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe (and hundreds of places in between) access the tools, training, and support they need to be more effective and make our world a better place. GlobalGiving earned Charity Navigator’s highest rating of four stars. We at Design Diary urge those of you who source exemplary design to support this effort.