Tuesday, May 10, 2011

21st Century Luxury: Natural Rarity

By Gayatri Mittal


I came across this example while looking at an ongoing vintage market near Ecole Militaire. One of the sellers had a very beautiful statue of Krishna made in Ivory. The best quality Ivory comes from the trunk of very old elephants and for that so many elephants are killed. Use of Ivory is now illegal, in an attempt to protect elephants.


But still the practice continues. For example all piano keys were ivory but now some are plastic. Plastic is already been rejected by the masses. Ivory is desired not just for statues but anything else because of it high value and qualities. By killing the animals for our desires we are endangering the species. Objects made out of materials found in nature will remain a luxury. With globalization and mass production their has been exploitation at every level creating natural rarity.

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