Caroline Pugh: Interview With Ethos Water Founder Peter Thum on His New Venture: Liberty United

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Get Business Newsletters: Subscribe

Peter Thum is no stranger to philanthropy and entrepreneurial success. As the founder of Ethos Water, he raised more than $7 million in humanitarian water grants and helped half a million people worldwide gain access to clean water. Starbucks acquired Ethos in 2005. Soon afterwards, he joined Starbucks as vice president and also became the director of the Starbucks Foundation through 2008.

Hungry to continue in his philanthropic ventures, Thum founded Fonderie 47 in 2009. The luxury brand removes AK47s from war zones in Africa and turns them into high-end jewelry. They make anything from cuff links to steel, diamond, 18-karat rose gold and platinum rings, the purchase of which funds the destruction of 160 assault rifles in African war zones. Along the way, Thum has received help from his wife, actress Cara Buono, who stars in popular TV show Mad Men, and has even collaborated with renowned jewelry designer James de Givenchy.

Fast forward to today, Thum recently launched Liberty United, a brand to extend his efforts to reduce gun violence to America. Liberty United transforms illegal guns and bullets from American communities into fashionable, iconic jewelry. The new label has launched its first collection with the well-known, brother and sister duo of Philip and Courtney Crangi of Giles & Brother. The collection, which is manufactured in America, includes bracelets, rings and necklaces. Each piece bears the serial number of an illegal gun that the venture has taken out of circulation. In turn, each purchase funds programs to reduce gun violence in the U.S.A.

I recently had a chance to talk with Peter about his new line and what it means for gun violence.

1) Describe your motivation behind starting Liberty United.

In 2008, while I was working on Ethos Water projects, I met kids in Africa armed with assault rifles. Since then, I've worked to remove over 32,000 assault rifles from circulation in war zones there. My wife and I talked about doing this here in The States. After our daughter was born, we began working on Liberty United.

2) How does Liberty United work?

It's pretty simple. We recycle illegal guns and bullets from American communities to make jewelry and other wearable art with leading designers. Profits from Liberty United sales fund programs to reduce gun violence in partner communities and across America.

3) How is Liberty United different from Fonderie 47?

They both are motivated by our desire to reduce gun violence and work with top artisans. Liberty United makes fashionable, accessible pieces and is focused on funding programs to reduce gun violence in the gun issue in the USA. Fonderie 47 makes very rare, one-of-a-kind and limited edition pieces from AK47s recycled from Africa and sales fund programs to reduce gun violence in Africa.

4) What are the main components of which Liberty United pieces are made?

Steel from guns and bullet shell casings, as well as brass, sterling silver, and American labor. All of our pieces are handcrafted here in the U.S.A.

5) Liberty United partnered with jewelry designer Philip Crangi of Giles + Brother, how would you best describe the inspiration behind the design?

Philip's Railroad Spike was inspired by first American Transcontinental Railroad and the famous driving of the golden spike to join East and West in 1869. This iconic symbol of American progress and unity is behind it.

6) Each one of the pieces is stamped with a special number, what does the number represent?

Each piece bears the serial number of one of the illegal guns we've recycled goes on every piece. I first came up with this idea for Fonderie 47 in 2009. It has been a part of every piece we've made for Fonderie 47 and for Liberty United.

7) Where did name "Liberty United" come from?

Our country has been built on individual freedoms, and working and sacrificing together. I wanted the brand to symbolize these two ideals and the tension, hence the name.

8) Why is gun violence personal to you?

My dad was a surgeon and served in the Army during Vietnam and later treated kids who had been shot in gang violence around where we lived. Seeing that as a boy and then later meeting kids in Africa armed with assault rifles made me want to do something about gun violence.

9) What message are you trying to bring about with launching Liberty United?

You can stand up and stand against gun violence. Liberty United offers a straightforward way to do this. If you like it wear it, and tell a friend.

10) What reactions have you had to the pieces so far?

Customers and the press and folks in general seem to love them for how they look and what they mean.

11) Where can people go to purchase Liberty United pieces?

At http://libertyunited.com/

Follow Caroline Pugh on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Caroline_Pugh

Get Alerts

Peter Pilotto's destination is the best news we've heard all week

Best news of London fashion week so far? Peter Pilotto is associated with destination!

It is true that the London-based design house uses his parade of spring 2014 this afternoon to the news is to design a line to be sold across the United States and Canada in white. The collection, which will feature women's clothing, accessories and swimwear, will make his debut on February 09, 2014 and above all price under $60.

Yes, you'll want to queue early to this one people. Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos, the brand's designers, have mastered the art printed, silhouettes of boldness and came the likes of Kerry Washington, Miranda Kerr and Selena Gomez best dressed lists. We can't wait to see what duo imagines for spring's white line, since, in contrast to its usual rate expensive, will be really able to afford these pieces. (If we have more money after buying the Phillip Lim fall for target line, it is.)

And I don't think that Peter Pilotto has forgotten its international customers. a handful of parts will be available in the net — - Porter.com. So be prepared to fight your way through the aisles of target - or the sphere of e-commerce--come February.

See some stars in Peter Pilotto to get an idea of the brand of aesthetics:

More, more, more:

Loading Slideshow

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo: courtesy)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo courtesy/Fashionista)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo courtesy/Fashionista)

(Photo courtesy/Fashionista)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(UNIQLO)

(Photo by Getty)

(UNIQLO)

(UNIQLO)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo courtesy/Fashionista)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Topshop)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo by Getty)

(Photo courtesy/Fashionista)

(Photo by Getty)

(Vogue photos)

Would you like more? Be sure to check HuffPost style on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram at @HuffPostStyle.

Subscribe to window._taboola = window._taboola | []; _taboola.push ({mode: 'autosized-1r-organic', container:'taboola-autosized-1r-organic '}); _taboola.push ({mode: 'autosized-1r-sc', container: 'taboola-autosized-1r-sc'}); window._taboola = window._taboola | []; _taboola.push({flush:true});

Peter Gardett: have what they are bringing to the week of the energy of New York?

Receives green alerts: Join

The United States energy sector has come to a truce of innovation.

After years of accelerating the adoption of renewable energy and smart grid technologies, not to mention the excitement about electric cars and opportunities of the electrification of the developing world, the brightness is much of the promise of a brave new world of energy that seemed imminent in the markets of high price of only a few years ago.

It is a natural reaction to the artificial boost of energy-related stimulus in Obama's first term and includes a kind of relief energy planners that the rise of natural gas (built in industry innovation now more than one decade of age) spare them the need for a transformation of the sector full-scale, expensive. But some of that calm is because the corporate landscape is still a land of silos.

Renewable energies do not speak to industry types oil (and the other way around). Financiers veer energy technology startups to focus on models of income of centenarians who understand and marketing gurus fail to see the virtue of marks that the public knows little about or simply reflexively does not like.

But the sector and innovation change occurs, all the silos of industry must find ways to work together and do they need places to meet. They need for the exchange of ideas that are on the periphery of their comfort zones and see how new challenges to their thinking can create new opportunities for your business.

That is why I am part of the week of the energy of New York. Too long, the industry has been defined by a mentality which does not allow creative exchange of ideas and best practices, a mentality which includes a manifesto of reliability built to an economic model of scale and centralization that is passing rapidly from relevance.

In the week of the energy of New York, we have worked to bring hackers in giants of the technology along with oil analysts and bring watchdogs of Government in conversation with self-professed disruptors. What better place to do it than New York City, where everyone elbows on crowded streets of people and the metro.

The United States is enormous, profitable energy sector and a credit to the national and global economy. It is also too often invisible and isolated. I am looking forward to see some talks unlikely that happen during the week of the energy of New York and have my own assumptions challenged.

What are they bringing to the week of the energy of New York?

Peter Gardett is the Foundation Editor of breaking energy and member of the Board of the week of the energy of New York, from 24 to 28 July 2013.

Peter Gardett follow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/petergardett

Get alerts

Peter Jones: 6 Tips for Happiness

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Get Books Alerts: Sign Up

On my 32nd birthday, I finally realized that there was a distinct possibility that the last of my "dreams" might never come to pass. At the time I hadn't even realized that it was a dream - I just hadn't had a proper girlfriend for a while. A long while. A really long while.

So in order to avoid a life of bachelorhood, I created a plan. I made lists. I came up with a strategy. I took all the problem solving skills I was developing to make rich men richer, and applied them to the gargantuan task of finding myself a girlfriend. A year or so later my strategy worked. A few months later I found myself on one knee, and a year to the day after we first met, I was finally married.

It didn't last. About two years after we married I lost Kate. To a brain haemorrhage. At Stanstead airport.

I've learned since that sudden deaths like hers (a sub-arachnoid hemorrhage) are surprisingly common. Kate had a weak part in her brain, probably since birth. It could have happened at any moment. It was almost inevitable. I learned too that after the shock of losing someone comes the guilt. Every cross word, every nasty thought, every lie - they all come back to haunt you. And among the demons that were queuing up to torment me was the realization that I wasn't happy, and maybe I never had been. There had been happy moments, of course. Quite a lot of moments. Most of them in the previous three years, and most of them down to Kate, but they were moments none the less. And I wanted to be happy all the time. Not just occasionally. Not just for a moment.

And so I decided to tackle the problem in the only way I knew how: by coming up with a plan. Making lists. Developing a strategy.

I kept it to myself at first. Well, you would wouldn't you? But one day a colleague got me talking, and I told her about "Boxing Day." And my "Now List." The items on my "Wish List." My yearly goals and how I make sure I actually achieve them. I told her how I've taken back control of my life, decided how I want it to be, pointed it in that direction, and given it a kick up the backside. I told her how I'm having more fun than I've ever had. Smiling more than I ever did. How there's love in my life again. How I think Kate would be proud of me. And that I can finally say I'm happy.

"Those ideas are too good to be kept to yourself," she said eventually. "You ought to write them down." So I did.

Here then are six tips taken from my book How To Do Everything and Be Happy. Have a read. Make some lists. Then create your own plan.

Loading Slideshow

“Time,” so they say “is money.” But imagine that as if it was the hours and minutes of your life, managed by a “Universal Bank of Time.” Under their strict account usage terms, the UBT would mandate a compulsory daily withdrawal of 24 hours. The hours would be automatically transferred to you at the start of each day. But you could never make a deposit, you could never put back what you didn’t use – unused hours would be taxed at 100%. Worse still, there’d be no online banking with the UBT. No paper statements. You couldn’t even get a balance - you’d never be sure how much time you had left. If real bank accounts worked this way you’d make sure you spent every penny of your daily withdrawal limit on something worthwhile. Pretty soon you’d probably start to plan your spending – you might even keep a book of items you wanted to spend your money on. So with that in mind…

Most folks have heard of a Bucket List (taken from the movie of the same name), a list of all the things you’d like to do before you die (“kick the bucket”). It’s a fabulous idea - except for the built-in assumption that we’re going to be doing all these marvelous things at some far flung point in the future, probably when we’ll be far too old and frail to do anything more than regret each and every item on the list as a missed opportunity. So let’s dispense with the term Bucket List. What we want is to “Live Life Now” list – or a “Now List” for short. Write down everything you’d like to do, then start making it happen. And when you do…

Andy Warhol, so it’s said, never opened any of his mail. He merely collected it up, put it in a box, and when that box was full, sealed it and wrote the year on the top. I’ve never taken the time to find out just how true this story is, but I do know that the first time I heard it, it had a profound effect on me. I wanted to do the same. However, being a somewhat deluded individual, I was fairly certain I could improve on the concept. And so I started to collect things. Theatre tickets, raffle tickets, train tickets, plane tickets, postcards, greeting cards, thank you cards, business cards, labels, badges, anything that was evidence of somewhere I’d been, something I’d done, or someone I’d met. And something I could pin to a board. This is how my “Trophy Board” looked at the end of 2012. How’s yours coming along?

Not all mementos can be pinned to a board. Every now and then you’ll pick up something altogether more three dimensional. Maybe a pebble from the beach. A pocket full of Lipa (Croatian pennies). A finger puppet your niece made for you. A cork from a bottle of champagne. The security pass from that time you did a radio interview. Don’t throw these items in a drawer. Instead, get yourself an old fashioned glass sweet jar and start filling it with this kind of stuff. Or how about this – an old fashioned printer’s tray available for just a few dollars from your friendly local eBay seller. Here’s mine.

Most people I encounter haven’t actually got a clue what they really want. They might wake up in the morning and want to go back to bed. They might flick through a magazine and want those shoes. They might even want the person in the magazine wearing those shoes. But these desires come and go. Few of them seem to stick around and become important - and that’s a mistake. Knowing exactly what you want is hugely important. Merely knowing has the power to change everything. Not convinced? Then allow me to introduce you to the incredible, completely automated wish-fulfilment machine you have inside your head…

Brains are amazing. Especially yours. Even mine has its moments. And one of the most fascinating mechanisms of the human brain is how it deals with focus. Have you ever noticed how when you buy a new car, or even when you’ve merely decided what type of car it is you want to buy, you start seeing that same car everywhere?! That’s the power of focus. It happens because in order for our brains to cope with the extraordinary amount of information coming in through our five senses from the world around us, we’re programmed to concentrate on what’s “important,” and more or less ignore the rest. Unconvinced? Excellent! Pick a card from the six shown here. Don’t tell me which one it is, just pick one, and remember which card you’ve chosen. Then proceed to the next slide.

So, how did I do that? The answer, of course, is focus. Your mind was concentrating on the card you’d chosen, and its apparent disappearance, and failed entirely to notice that all the cards had changed. The other cards weren’t “important.” You might be asking yourself how does the brain determine what’s important? And the answer is: you tell it! And this mechanism isn’t just taking place during card tricks; this happens all day, every day. Your brain is continually filtering the information coming in based on what you’ve decided is important. Strange then that we quite often focus on entirely the wrong things, or nothing at all.

Most people own a wallet, a purse, or some other item to carry around their credit cards, dog-eared receipts or (if you’re really retro) cash. If your wallet is like mine then it might have a small see-through pocket where you’re supposed to put a photo of a loved one. Ditch it. Not the loved one, just the photo. On a small piece of card, just big enough to fit that space, write down what you really want in life – your “life vision” if you like – and place it in your wallet. What we’re doing here is utilizing that Power Of Focus on a daily basis by creating something that will remind you of those important things, each and every time you look in your wallet.

Get Alerts