The project was started in September when Jessica Rowe, Marion Grasby, Zoe Foster, Libby Trickett and Anna Plunkett were all asked to “decorate” a watch from Pandora’s Icon Collection.
The initiative called on the women to offer their inspiration to, and help design the decoration of the watches using various pieces from Pandora’s jewellery range. The final “bespoke” pieces would then be auctioned with all proceeds going to the charity of choice of each woman.
Pandora vice president marketing Glenda Wolman said, “We chose five iconic women, all well-known and successful in their various fields and whose stories could help inspire beautiful artworks. It’s a wonderful opportunity to celebrate Australian women and give back to charity.”
Wolman explained that each of the women was asked to design and create a decoration for the Icon Watch Collection and they had to come up with their own inspiration and help put it into affect with the help of artist Leanne Wilkes and specialist jeweller Michael Mooney.
“Some of the jewellery pieces have been altered so as to be added to the watch decoration so a great deal of fine [jewellery] work was done by Michael [Mooney] to create the designs,” Wolman told Jeweller.
AUCTIONEach unique design will be sold via Graysonline.com at the end of November with the proceeds going to five respective charities of choice.
The list of beneficiaries includes,
• The Australian Kookaburra Kids Foundation - Jessica Rowe
• The Black Dog Institute - Libby Trickett
• The Fred Hollows Foundation - Anna Plunkett
• Save The Children - Marion Grasby
• The Australian Orangutan Project - Zoe Foster
Wolman said that each of the women is deeply passionate about her nominated cause. “Jessica Rowe has a profoundly personal connection to The Kookaburra Kids Foundation after having grown up with a mother who has a mental illness,” Wolman said.
Rowe explained, “I know how overwhelming, lonely and heartbreakingly hard mental illness can be. Kookaburra Kids gives kids, whose parents have a mental illness, the chance to go away on a camp, have a break and most importantly fun- surrounded by love and support and affirmation that they’re not alone.”
The project is supported by
The Australian Women’s Weekly and is being promoted via a digital campaign to the magazine’s readers as well as The Pandora Club and Facebook fans.
Bidding opens 19 November and will close on 30 November 2012.
The watches will be framed and anyone wanting to make a bid on a piece from 19 November can visit:
www.graysonline.com/pandora.
the WOMEN AND THE watches
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