The AK-47 is probably the greatest success story of Communist engineering. But what is easily one of the most popular assault weapons on the planet has now been melted down and turned into a set of limited edition cufflinks.
Created by Roland Iten for his new brand Fonderie 47, the cufflinks are an impressive model of engineering themselves, using Swiss watchmaking techniques so they can transform into a bracelet while not tethering a set of shirt sleeve cuffs. But their most unique selling point is that in addition to 18 carat white and rose gold, they’re also made from scrapped AK-47s.
In fact the cufflinks were conceived to help foster an initiative to buy and destroy guns in Africa, where the AK-47 is so common that it’s often used as a form of currency. So the proceeds from each set will go towards buying up the assault rifles so they can then be destroyed. Each sale raises enough money to buy and dispose of 100 AK-47s, which is a fantastic cause. But apparently the bill for that service comes to just over $US32,000, which I’m pretty sure most people aren’t willing to pay for cufflinks. That’s probably why only 20 sets are being created and marketed to the world’s wealthiest do-gooders. [Fonderie 47 via aBlogtoRead]