A bracelet.

A story about war and peace. Destruction and reconstruction. History. Instead of words, this story is composed of fragments of bombs, melted and shaped into a circle, a bracelet, a reminder. 

1973.

Laos. A major theatre of war during the Vietnam conflict, the US has ceased its 9-year long aerial bombardment known as the Secret War intended to halt the spread of communism across Indochina. Communist Lao leaders and 23,000 civilians slowly emerge from homes carved in the karst cave complexes of Houaphan Province.

1975.

War is over. Saigon has fallen to the North Vietnamese Army. Victory within near reach, the Pathet Lao advance westward. A lone man from Houaphan also moves west. He journeys through the emerald-mountain passes toward the bomb-cratered Plain des Jars.

Naphia Village, Laos.

The man makes a temporary home. He collects scrap metal from farmland and forest scarred by war debris from the 250-260 million bombs that were dropped. He crafts spoons from aluminum melted in an earthen kiln and cast in hand-sculpted molds of wood and ash.

Villagers watch, listen, learn.

The first Naphia resident learns the trade from the lone traveler. He crafts and sells spoons. Eventually, he teaches the technique to his son. Today, 10 resourceful and enterprising families supplement subsistence farming activities with income from repurposing scrap metal. Through resourcefulness and problem solving, they take a constructive approach to a legacy of destruction.

2009.

peaceBOMB bracelets. Developed through the collaboration of spoon makers, the RISE Project, and ARTICLE 22, a social enterprise that supports sustainable development through design thinking. Each bracelet purchase brings: helps support artisan families, the community development fund, and clearance of unexploded ordnance from Lao land.

NOW.

BUY BACK THE BOMBS.