Recycled Brass bombshell jewellery crafted by disadvantaged artisans and landmine victims in Cambodia. Building lives and sending love and peace around the world.
Angkor Bullet Jewellery – Building lives and sending Peace and Love around the World!
Supporting home-based, disadvantaged Artisans and families in Cambodia and around the World.
CHANTHA THOEUN’S STORY – FOUNDER OF ANGKOR BULLET JEWELLERY.
Chantha Thoeun, founder of Angkor Bullet Jewellery was born in Pursat, a province of Cambodia, north east of the capital, Phnom Penh. An only child and orphaned by the age of 8, he suffered great loss and tragedy: “My mother died, following illness, when I was only 4 years’ old and four years later my father was killed by a notorious Khmer Rouge solder.”
After this terrible loss Chantha live with his grandparents in Phnom Penh, while receiving support from a NGO working in the city. Chantha was able to carry on with his schooling and he was taught the art of jewellery making from the age of 14 years: “I spent nearly 4 years learning in the jewellery section and after saving enough money I studied graphic design, learning computer skills as well as developing my jewellery designs.”
Married in 2009, and now a dad of two, Chantha is driven by the love of his family and his desire to contribute to the development of other artisans in his community: “I am inspired today for the love and well-being of my family and this motivates me to help and support others in my community.”
A year following his marriage Chantha set up his own team of artisans, all working from home. Home Based Artisans became his business and aimed to provide underprivileged Cambodian people the opportunity to be trained in contemporary handicrafts and arts. Chantha explains further: “Home Based Artisans was set up with the commitment to improve the personal development of home-based workers by advancing both their design and business skills.”
After 5 years of growth and success of the project, in 2015 Chantha and his team found a new name for the business: Angkor Bullet Jewellery. The jewellery created by Chantha and the other artisans takes inspiration from their culture. Cambodia has seen a revival of artistic skills, following the downfall of the Khmer Rouge, partly due to a growth in tourism and through the support and teaching provided to Chantha and his fellow jewellery designers, helping to resurrect traditional skills nearly lost.
Chantha gathers inspiration for his designs by immersing himself in both ancient and modern Cambodian culture. He visited Angkor Wat and other temples, once Hindu then subsequently Buddhist. These temples demonstrate many examples of ancient stone carving designs, to offer inspiration. Chantha also spent time at the National Museum in Phnom Penh learning designs from the Great Khmer Empire alongside more modern designs, many of which have French origins from when Cambodia was colonised.
Angkor Bullet Jewellery is made from bullet casings and bomb shells. Chantha wanted to showcase the plight of Khmer people and what they have had to endure in their recent past. He describes the use of these materials as expressing hope rising from tragedy: “This is what inspires my designs: turning something negative that was used to kill millions of Khmer people, including my dad, into something of beauty, hope, strength and endurance: from war to peace!”
The idea of recycling and upcycling is also part of why Chantha chooses to use bullets and bomb shells: both symbolic and practical, using material that would otherwise be waste, while a reminder of its past and through this he hopes to raise awareness of Cambodia and the country’s history, while signifying a peaceful future, with happiness for all.
