They're calling it – oh-so-appropriately – Pandamonium. The World Wildlife Fund's iconic panda logo is getting its first big update – well, actually 16 updates – in half a century. The makeovers of the 1961 symbol are to raise awareness (and funds) ahead of the Copenhagen Climate Change summit in December. Sixteen artists and designers have reimagined the charity’s panda collection box in sculpture, video and drawings, highlighting current global environmental challenges. The pandas are currently being displayed in London’s Selfridges department store on Oxford Street through Oct. 28. The new bamboo crew will be auctioned off on Oct. 12 and are expected to raise $165,000. [NOTE: yes, they are being auctioned before the end of the exhibition, but obviously will stay put until the end]. "WWF and the arts have always been intrinsically linked," WWF’s Head of Design Management Georgie Bridge says on the organization's Web site. "Our founder, Sir Peter Scott, was a painter and naturalist who developed the original panda logo nearly 50 years ago. It's since become a globally-recognized symbol for conservation, a design heritage we are intensely proud of." Pop artist Sir Peter Blake – the designer of the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album sleeve – designed a red and black panda sculpture (pictured below), which he playfully nicknamed World Wrestling Federation, according to London’s Evening Standard newspaper. It was created with "a sense of humor and jest," he told The Standard.
(To see what some of the other artists and designers came up with, click here.) British fashion designer Paul Smith – he of the multicolored stripe designs – created a bear that stands over tree feet tall with (you guessed it) stripes (pictured above). He called his bear "fun, colourful and bright," and told the Independent he’d created it to make people "stop and think." After all, solutions to climate change aren't exactly black and white.
Courtesy Kulbir Thandi/WWF-UK.
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