1,600 Papier-Mâché Pandas Will Be Set Up in Hong Kong
- 10 years ago
As a reminder of how dire the situation is regarding endangered pandas, 16 hundred papier-mâché pandas will be arriving in Hong Kong this June.
Underneath their adorable appearance, pandas, as a species, aren’t doing too well. Deemed endangered, it is estimated there are around 16 hundred pandas living in the wild today.
Now, as a reminder of how dire the situation is, 16 hundred papier-mâché pandas will be arriving in Hong Kong this June. To understand the meaning of the paper pandas, you have to go back to 2008.
It was then that the head of the World Wildlife Fund in France came up with an idea to raise awareness of the pandas’ plight. He decided to somehow display 1,600 pandas at popular landmarks across the world.
He contacted artist Paulo Grangeon who agreed to take that idea and make it into a reality. He opted to use papier-mâché techniques to create the 16 hundred pandas.
Once they were intricately crafted, he launched a world tour to set up the panda installation in urban locations. It’s been six years since the awareness campaign kicked off and the papier-mâché pandas have been set up in twenty countries and over 100 cities including Paris, Rome and Taipei.
The upcoming Hong Kong installation will showcase the pandas in various popular spots including the International Airport. Four special-edition pandas have been made specifically for the event and they will stay in the city even after the remaining pandas are relocated.
Underneath their adorable appearance, pandas, as a species, aren’t doing too well. Deemed endangered, it is estimated there are around 16 hundred pandas living in the wild today.
Now, as a reminder of how dire the situation is, 16 hundred papier-mâché pandas will be arriving in Hong Kong this June. To understand the meaning of the paper pandas, you have to go back to 2008.
It was then that the head of the World Wildlife Fund in France came up with an idea to raise awareness of the pandas’ plight. He decided to somehow display 1,600 pandas at popular landmarks across the world.
He contacted artist Paulo Grangeon who agreed to take that idea and make it into a reality. He opted to use papier-mâché techniques to create the 16 hundred pandas.
Once they were intricately crafted, he launched a world tour to set up the panda installation in urban locations. It’s been six years since the awareness campaign kicked off and the papier-mâché pandas have been set up in twenty countries and over 100 cities including Paris, Rome and Taipei.
The upcoming Hong Kong installation will showcase the pandas in various popular spots including the International Airport. Four special-edition pandas have been made specifically for the event and they will stay in the city even after the remaining pandas are relocated.