January 2002               Buddy Bear for Berlin 

Our artist Constanze Wagner has won the competition to design the Buddy Bear for the Embassy of South Africa in Berlin.

The Buddy Bear is the "modernized" heraldic animal of Berlin and is to represent each of the states represented in Berlin.

From June 2002 to October 2002 about 180 Buddy Bears are to be placed in a circle on  the Pariser Platz at the Brandenburger Tor.

                  Beschreibung durch die Kuenstlerin
Each of the bears will represent the culture of one country and  make the Berliners and visitors to Berlin acquainted with it, at the same time being a token of  friendship and tolerance of the community of people.

The bears are joined together manually from several components made of glasfibre/polyester resin.

Each bear is two meters tall and will be standing on a pedestal of concrete bearing a plaque that will point out the country on a world map and its national flag.

The event is organized by the Initiative Tolerance United Buddy Bears. 

 

Constanze designed a "Rikscha-Bear" with head dress in  Zulu pattern. 

His  motto:

"Hello all you happy people"

The bead cape of the Rikschas is modeled according to Ndebele and Zulu patterns.

We wish Constanzes  Rischa-Bear luck and lots of visitors.

In October 2002 all Buddy Bears will be auctioned. The proceeds will be used 100% for UNICEF projects.

more details under 

and                       

http://www.united-buddy-bears.com  

http://www.buddy-bear.com/ 

 

October 2002                    Berlin Weekend   

 

November 2002 Auction of the Buddy Bears

B.Z.
am 06. November 2002:

Bärenstarke Verlosung

Millionen Touristen streichelten ihnen über ihre dicken Bäuche, 140 Tage lang standen sie neben dem Brandenburger Tor - trotzten Wind und Wetter. Gestern kamen 45 der bunten "United Buddy Bears" für den guten Zweck unter den Hammer. Sie wurden im Museum für Kommunikation zu Gunsten von afrikanischen Kindern in Not versteigert.

Unicef-Botschafterin Sabine Christiansen, 44, heizte den Promi-Gästen aus ganz Deutschland dann auch so richtig ein (u.a. Dieter Hallervorden, Klaus Wowereit, Michael Bob, Hans-Peter Wodarz, Klaus Bresser). Bärchen-Spitzenreiter am Abend: Südafrika. Via Internet bot ein Fan ganze 5000 Euro.