Last night I attended the UK charity Bottletop’s annual fundraising event ‘Full Circle 2011’ at Phillips de Pury in London, where many beautiful works of the worlds leading contemporary artists were donated for auction.

It was nice to see a donation by Kenyan Artist Wangechi Mutu,  a 2009 print  called “Homeward Bound”

Bottletop was founded by Cameron Soul, the son of the founder of UK luxury fashion label Mulberry.  Its mission is to empower young people to make informed, healthy choices and to protect themselves, their communities and ultimately their countries. They support grassroots education projects working closely with young people in Rwanda, Malawi, Mozambique, Brazil and the UK. Film, youth newspapers, drama, music and peer education are some of the effective ways that Bottletop uses to positively engage young people in health issues and their own personal development.

Full Circle 2011 also marked the launch of the for-profit Bottletop fashion company. This company continues to be dedicated to designing high quality, ethnically sourced fashion accessories, that support developing communities.

The gorgeous high-fashion handbags shown here are made by the local communities from recycled bottle tops that have been salvaged from waste. The bags are very populair with the fashion elite, including Kate Moss, Jessica Alba and Rachel Weisz.