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EditorsJun 09, 2011
Diamond dollars decorate Couture
As I returned to my hotel room in Las Vegas last Friday evening, ending my exciting day on the tradeshow floor at Couture, I noticed that an envelope with my name on it had been slid under my door. Upon...
As I returned to my hotel room in Las Vegas last Friday evening, ending my exciting day on the tradeshow floor at Couture, I noticed that an envelope with my name on it had been slid under my door.
Upon opening it, I found an ambiguous note and a dollar bill with a bright pink diamond drawn onto the center, just like the one below.
After a day or two of investigating, I found that fine jewelry designer and Couture exhibitor Erica Courtney was behind it, releasing 250 “diamond dollar” bills all around the Wynn. They were slipped under hotel room doors, taped to bathroom stalls, adhered to water bottles and windshields and spread around the show floor.
Free Humanity, an elusive Los Angles-based street artist with the mission statement of “Taking back the Humanity stolen from our minds by social manipulation and planting seeds of positivity through art and consciousness,” designed the bills.
“My love for street art inspired me to track down the elusive “Free Humanity” to create something amazing and fun for Couture,” Courtney said. “I just loved adding excitement, and bringing a little piece of my heart to the show.”
Each Free Humanity distributed at Couture features a drawing of a colored diamond, is numbered and signed by the artist and is stamped with Courtney’s motto, “Live & Love Life.” Each Free Humanity $1 is valued at $50 or more, and are considered collector’s items.
“I had Free Humanity put ‘Live & Love Life’ on the bills because it’s been on my invoice since I started my business 27 years ago,” Courtney shared.
I’ve opted to frame my diamond dollar, a colorful reminder of my first Couture trip and a rare piece of street art. Who knows where Free Humanity may turn up next …
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