These genuine diamonds are just one of nearly 200 tiers of rewards for backers of this impressive art project honoring the United States
LONDON, Jan. 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — A major new Kickstarter project is offering 1,000 non-conflict, Kimberley Process diamonds to backers for just $20 each.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140102/PH39491-a)
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140102/PH39491-b)
"It's not commercial suicide and it's not a scam. It's a PR stunt," said project creator, British artist Chris Chamberlain.
"Rewarding backers with small, genuine, affordable diamonds – and making no money on them – is a way of saying 'hey everyone, check out this awesome worthy project, it needs to come to life, give it your support and let's make a radical difference.'"
The project, titled 'U.S.3' – as in 'United States Three' – aims to create 3 very large artworks in honor of America from a million pieces of hand-cut stained glass and 3,000 jewels, including over 200 diamonds.
U.S.3 will be created in Sierra Leone, West Africa – a country formerly notorious for 'blood diamonds' and currently the eighth poorest in the world. By doing this, Chamberlain's hope is to bring some benefit, perhaps a little re-branding, to that now peaceful, fast-developing yet extremely impoverished country.
It will take Chamberlain and a team of assistants 6,000 man-hours to create U.S.3. Six miles of manual glass cuts – which is greater than the height of Mount Everest and equal to the length of 88 NFL football pitches – will be needed just to make its 1 million glass pieces.
When U.S.3 is complete, 3 world records will be applied for. It will then be donated to a US public institution which project backers have voted for.
The project needs to raise £200,000 (about $328,000) by February 2. As with all Kickstarter projects, funding is all-or-nothing. If it falls just $1 short of its goal, the project will not go ahead and backers will pay nothing. But if its goal is reached, backers will be charged on February 2, never sooner.
The project has close to 200 tiers of backer rewards. Almost all are intricate handmade artworks that combine hand-cut stained glass micro-mosaic and gems including topaz, sapphire, ruby, emerald and diamond.
For a £100 (about $164) pledge, backers are offered a Stars and Stripes artwork with over 1,200 pieces of hand-cut stained glass micro-mosaic and 50 topaz gems totalling 12.5 carats.
At the far end of the scale, in reward for a £5,000 (about $8,200) pledge, backers are offered a choice of over 130 unique, one-off state, famous-place and city portraits. Each will be created from over 25,000 pieces of hand-cut stained glass micro-mosaic and 250 jewels, including 20 diamonds.
Their topics include each of the 50 US states, the likes of Beverly Hills, Malibu and Manhattan, and 77 major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Phoenix, San Francisco, Denver, San Diego, Boston, Memphis, San Antonio, Indianapolis and Washington DC.
URL: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jotu/us3-three-epic-artworks-in-honor-of-the-usa
Contact: Chris Chamberlain, Email, +44 7964 256 481