Sterling Silver and Bronze Gorilla Pendant

The majestic Mountain Gorilla is captured in sterling silver or bronze by designer Taf Lebel Schaefer with powerful, sweeping lines and an abstraction that conveys the essence of this endangered animal. The pendant depicts the moment at which the enormous Silverback yet gentle giant strides forward protecting his family. Schaefer hand carved hard jeweler’s wax, and proceeds support the work of the Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund.

Design Process:
Each piece is hand carved on hard jeweler’s wax, then cast in the ancient process of lost wax casting, polished by hand.

Sterling Silver Pendant is finished with a 16” silver chain. Pendant measures about 1” L and 3/4" H. Hand crafted in the USA.

Bronze Pendant is finished with a 34” brown leather cording which allows for a variety of lengths. Pendant measures about 1” L and 3/4" H. Hand crafted in the USA.

Designer Biography:
Taf Lebel Schaefer, sculptor, Steuben Glass designer, and jewelry designer, has focused her creative energies on the natural world and animals in particular. Her work is stylized and often abstracted and aims to capture the expressive qualities of the animals she sculpts. Her sculpture includes stone and wood carvings, bronze castings and mixed media work. In her work for Steuben Glass, Schaefer has taken her sculptural aesthetic and enlarged the vocabulary of glass design as she explores the world of nature. Her organic, sculptural jewelry has often been used by a nimal conservation groups as a fund raising tool that also delights the eye. Schaefer’s desire to use her work as a way to benefit animal conservation causes has led her to affiliate with the Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund originally with her work for Steuben Glass and now as she offers the first pendant in her line of Silverback.

Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund Mission:
The mission of the Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund (MGCF) in partnership with the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP) and the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) is dedicated to expanding the Wildlife Health Resources Management at the Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda Africa. This department is an education based program for teaching local Africans about wildlife health management with the continuance to obtain a veterinarian degree for the protection of all wildlife.