Eyewear brand and human rights activists team up to design a new line of sunglasses.
Copenhagen-based eyewear brand DEAR LEADER has partnered up with Danish design studio Kilo, to design a new line of sunglasses for eight global human rights activists. The brand will launch a Kickstarter campaign which will run throughout the month of July, to raise funds for the manufacturing of the new sunglasses.
“We are thrilled to introduce The Freedom Collection after nearly two years of research and development. The result is a line of exquisitely-designed, stainless-steel sunglasses which will be used to carry forward a message of freedom from one person to the next. “We understand that sunglasses alone won’t save the world, but we hope to utilise our skills within fashion and design to help raise awareness around these activists and their causes. Our hope is to raise as much awareness as possible, thereby helping the activists reach a new type of audience and spread their message even further”, says Johan Stahl, founder of DEAR LEADER.
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The Freedom Collection honours a selection of leaders, business pioneers, dissidents, technologists, activists and journalists, who are dedicated to making our world a more peaceful, prosperous and free place. Designed by renowned Danish design studio Kilo, the collection celebrates contemporary aesthetics while highlighting and commemorating the work and achievements of these individuals. Each of the eight activists for freedom has a model in the collection, designed to fit their individual expectations and stories, while representing the collection as a whole.
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The activists include: Nico Sell, privacy advocate and co-founder of secure messaging app Wickr; Flemming Rose, Danish author and free expression advocate; Zineb el Rhazoui, French journalist and former Charlie Hebdo columnist; Kimberley Motley, lawyer for vulnerable clients in Afghanistan; Chen Guangcheng, Chinese civil rights activist and former political prisoner; Abdalaziz Alhamza, Syrian journalist and founder of Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently; Manal al Sharif, the first Saudi woman to drive and Yeonmi Park, North Korean defector and human rights activist.
The activists were selected for their work through international event, the Oslo Freedom Forum – an annual conference where the world’s most engaging human rights advocates meet to share their stories and brainstorm ways to expand freedom and unleash human potential across the globe. For every pair of sunglasses sold, 20USD will be donated to an organisation of the respective activist’s choice.
DEAR LEADER is a unique eyewear brand who produce high-quality, handcrafted sunglasses with a purpose. The brand combines fashion with activism, utilising design as a medium through which to promote freedom around the world as a basic human right, and support individuals and organisations working towards a freer world.
