“I wanted to give women not just the feeling of wanting to help, but actual means by which to do so.”
Joyaux Marisol is a New York benefit corporation and international art collective focused on healing, protecting, and empowering women and our planet through objects that touch us in everyday life.
Miranda Leigh originally designed the Marisol® umbrella in response to the rape epidemic in Eastern Congo.
A woman bonds with her Marisol umbrella. It becomes an extension of her body as much as her beneficence. Supple and resilient, the Marisol umbrella's steel frame and flexible ribs can brave fierce winds. The pagoda-shaped canopy symbolizes the womb, while the vulva-shaped handle gives women the feeling of taking their bodies and their lives into their own hands.
The prints on the Marisol umbrellas are inspired by mandala drawings made by survivors of gender-based violence. The pilot workshop was held with fifteen survivors of domestic violence from Nairobi, Kenya. Each Marisol umbrella is cut and assembled by hand by survivors of domestic violence from Safe Horizon/The Family Law Justice Center, NYC. A percentage of profits is split evenly between the women from Nairobi and New York, creating a circular economy across cultures and continents.
The Marisol umbrella advances the following UN Sustainable Development Goals:
Gender equality
Environmental sustainability
Health & well-being
Education
Poverty eradication
Umbrella detail
Design Process