WALKING WITH GIANTS
An epic new jewellery collection is dedicated to saving one of our most beloved species
Tiffany & Co. gets behind an important initiative.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a woman who didn’t recognise the Tiffany & Co. blue box and know what the iconic package signified. But a lesser-known fact about the New York jeweller is its longstanding commitment to conservation efforts – which, since 2000, the company has concentrated through The Tiffany & Co. Foundation.
At the forefront of those efforts is Anisa Kamadoli Costa, foundation chairman and president and Tiffany & Co.’s chief sustainability officer, who oversees the company’s global corporate responsibility agenda. “Nature is both a source of design inspiration and a focus of our corporate social responsibility efforts,” she says. “So we’re constantly striving to do our part to protect it.” Kamadoli Costa is leading the charge in championing sustainability through responsible mining and coral conservation, among other major pledges. That scope has also broadened to include the protection of elephants, one of the world’s most adored species yet one that’s under severe threat. Despite the practice being banned, some 30,000 elephants are poached every year for their ivory, or one almost every 15 minutes. Combined with the destruction of their habitat from land clearing and the looming danger of climate change, it means they could be driven to extinction within a generation.
Tiffany & Co.’s reaction to this crisis was born, in part, out of its connection to the gentle giants’ habitat. “We’re particularly connected to Africa, where we source many of our rough diamonds and operate diamond cutting and polishing workshops,” says Kamadoli Costa. “As Tiffany deepened its understanding of the ivory crisis, we felt compelled to act.” The company chose to direct its efforts to aid the Elephant Crisis Fund – a joint project between Save The Elephants and the Wildlife Conservation Network – which is focused on protecting elephants from poaching and trafficking. Tiffany & Co. first joined forces with the fund in 2016 for #Knotonmyplanet, a fashion-focused campaign that helps raise awareness and funds for the cause.
Now, the brand has created the Tiffany Save The Wild collection, made up of sweet elephant-shaped charms and brooches, with all profits going to the Elephant Crisis Fund (with a minimum commitment of US$1 million by 2019). With the help of model and fund ambassador Doutzen Kroes, the pieces – in rose gold with a diamond or sterling silver with a green tsavorite stone – were previewed at this year’s Leonardo Dicaprio Foundation gala, with the actor’s charity often working with the fund.
As a result, opening that little blue box is even sweeter, knowing it’s in aid of such a good cause. “We believe we have both a moral and business imperative to speak out about issues that matter to help drive meaningful change,” Kamadoli Costa says. “It’s important for consumers to feel empowered that their purchases have a real impact.”
“WE HAVE A MORAL AND BUSINESS IMPERATIVE TO SPEAK OUT ABOUT ISSUES THAT MATTER TO HELP DRIVE MEANINGFUL CHANGE”