Auction For Aid
Over 70 Of The Uk’s Hottest Jewellery Designers Unite For “Auction For Aid”
Supporting Help Refugees and Moas (Migrant Offshore Aid Station)
A Facebook auction of British Contemporary Jewellery "Auction For Aid", spearheaded by Leeds based jeweller Ghazal Ghahri-Saremi, of Soremi Jewellery is taking place online, on Facebook, from Monday September 18th to Sunday September 24th.
Auction For Aid will feature over 205 donated works from supporting jewellers such as Polly Wales, Jo Hayes Ward, Ruth Tomlinson, Shimmel Madden and Disa Allsop. This year the auction, has gone international, receiving support from European and US jewellers who also feel the injustice of the refugee crisis, these include Margery Hirschey, Tod Pownell and Tura Sudden.
With recommended retail prices for donated pieces running anywhere between £25 and £15,000, there is something for every jewellery lover at every budget. Contemporary geometric pieces in precious metaI, stunning flora and fauna styles in various expressions, bright and sometimes unusual gemstone pieces and jewellery made from more unusual and sustainable materials – together the auction showcases a stunning collaborative portfolio of phenomenal international talent.
Auction For Aid is now in its third year, in year one it raised £10,000 with 2 weeks of preparation, in year 2, £25,000 and signs point to year 3 being a record breaking year, due to the increased awareness in the community over £40,000 worth of jeweIIery has been donated. The platform is unique in how it exposes the pubIic to an astonishing array of international talent and offers jewellers the opportunity to reach new customers and audiences for their work, at the same time as helping save lives and give hope to refugees.
Proceeds from the auction will go to two organisations: MOAS, an NGO providing search and rescue operations for refugees in distress at sea; to date the MOAS crew has rescued around 40,000 Iives in immediate danger and Help Refugees, a remarkable organisation, who in two years have become the number one facilitator of grassroots aid to refugees and run more than 80 projects across Europe and the Middle East focusing on education, food relief and community care. All the funds raised for Help Refugees this year will go to the brilliant Baytna centre, providing informal education and vital psycho-social support to refugee children from war ravaged nations currently in Greek camps.
Ghazal Ghahri-Saremi says,
“The UK jewellery industry is full of talented artisans who want to use their skills to help effect change, the donors have shown a collective spirit of kindness for the ongoing humanitarian crisis and indeed empathy for what people are experiencing as refugees, especially the children. It gives our industry a unique way to contribute in solidarity and together.”
Pieces can be viewed
