<b>Alumna's Story: Making Beauty Out of Bombs</b>
After graduating from Millbrook in 2004, Wallis Suda went on to the Parsons School of Design where she earned her Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Fashion Design in May of 2009. She has traveled extensively and feels she continues to learn important life lessons through cultural exploration of the people, food, art and music in other countries. While she discovered her passion and love for hand-embellished textiles in Paris, studying under Claire Jochum, former textile designer for Christian Lacroix, and runs a successful textile business in New York City, she has recently joined forces with her sister, Elizabeth, to support the creation of PeaceBOMB bracelets, an accessory formed by Laotian artists from war scrap metal.
The PeaceBOMB project is a collaboration between artisan families in Naphia Villae, Laos, the Swiss-formed Rural Income Through Sustainable Energy (RISE) project, and Article 22, Elizabeth Suda's design company. Wallis has worked closely with her sister to develop a market for bracelets created from some of the 250 million bombs that were dropped on Laos during the Vietnam War. The beautiful bracelets are formed from fragments of bombs which are then melted and shaped. Proceeds from the sale of the PeaceBOMB Bracelets provide income to Laotian farmers and artisans, and contribute to "a community fund that provides resources for village infrastructure projects and small business micro-loans."
Wallis, her sister Elizabeth, and other team members of Article 22 will visit Laos to shoot a series of short films to tell the story of the PeaceBOMB Bracelet. They have already worked with an independent filmmaker to create a short video about the bracelets, encouraging people to BUY BACK THE BOMBS. Ultimately, their goals are to:
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Wallis, her sister Elizabeth, and other team members of Article 22 will visit Laos to shoot a series of short films to tell the story of the PeaceBOMB Bracelet. They have already worked with an independent filmmaker to create a short video about the bracelets, encouraging people to BUY BACK THE BOMBS. Ultimately, their goals are to:
- SUPPORT income generation through handcrafts to help subsistence farmers (doubling as artisans) bring much-needed disposable income into their households and develop self-sustaining business structures.
- IMPROVE the strongly entrenched war-scrap metal supply chain to make it safer for artisans and scrap collectors by collaborating with organizations that specialize in unexploded ordnance (UXO) removal and education.
- BENEFIT the entire village community through donations to the “Village Development Fund” for infrastructure projects including roads, light poles and electricity for the school and other communal areas.
- ALLOCATE money from a second fund to invest in other village needs such as education.
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