Vhernier in the slums of South Africa. Not with the refined jewels of its collections, obviously, but with a charity project. Even if the term is not exactly appropriate: the jewelry brand led by Carlo Traglio, in fact, has decided to support the Empower Shack project, developed by the Urban Think-Tank studio of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich ETH-Zürich. The team is led by architect Alfredo Brillembourg and his partner Hubert Klumpner, in collaboration with Ikhayalami NGO. What does the project consist of? It is no small achievement: improving the quality of life of those who live in the slums of Cape Town. To achieve this, the idea was to design minimalist housing units. The first has already been installed, but the road is long: the slum on the outskirts of Cape Town, in the Khayelitsha district, covers an area of 4 square kilometers, in which 400 thousand people live. The goal is to make the first one hundred units, each costing around 6 thousand euros. A roof, walls, minimal services: much more than those who live in slums have now.
What does Vhernier have to do with it? Quickly said: the brand has created the Africa pendant, a jewel that represents the face of the country, available in Vhernier boutiques. 25% of the sale price of the jewel will be donated for the construction of new Empower Shacks. Moreover, buying it is not only a philanthropic support: the pendant is graceful, a reinterpretation of traditional African masks, an ebony profile with golden eyes.
«With over 50 million inhabitants and one of the most important economies on the continent, South Africa is a country in which very strong economic inequalities produce dramatic social tensions», explains Carlo Traglio, president of Vhernier. «I was immediately fascinated by the Empower Shack project, which in its simplicity represents an effective and sustainable solution to the disastrous process with which South African megalopolises are growing. Furthermore, I find it admirable that an archistar like Alfredo Brillembourg deals with social issues without focusing on business».
The one related to South Africa is not Vhernier’s only ethical initiative. Another example is «A ring to save a child», started in 2010 to support the interventions of the Francesca Rava NPH Italia Onlus Foundation: one hundred percent of the proceeds from the sale of the Pirouette Vhernier for Kids ring, in silver and rose gold, went to support the pediatric surgery activity of the Saint Damien hospital in Haiti. «Whoever buys a ring actually saves a person: the cost of the Pirouette corresponds to the cost of a surgical operation», Traglio recalls. In the USA, Vhernier supports Artists for Peace and Justice (APJ), the association founded by the Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis, with the initiative «An education for the children of Haiti»: the sale of each ring guarantees a year of training to a student of the St. Luc Street School and the Academy for Peace and Justice. “In Haiti, illiteracy reaches 43%. This is a small, concrete step towards a better future,” concludes the company’s president.
