Giant Easter eggs designed by handpicked British artists such as Ronnie Wood, Marc Quinn and Ben Shine touched down in New York City courtesy of Virgin Atlantic Cargo for the annual Big Egg Hunt, which is raising money for disadvantaged children and endangered wildlife.
Virgin carried 11 eggs from London free of charge to support the event sponsored by Fabergé, the iconic artist jeweller, and created by Elephant Family. The charity initiative is supported by leading artists and designers and the 2012 hunt in London raised more than £1 million for good causes and found its way into the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest Easter egg hunt. The eggs, measuring up to 110 cms in height and weighing between 15 and 30 kilos, were hidden around New York City. Saatchi & Saatchi NY developed a smartphone app to help explorers in their search for 270 eggs in total, which also included designs by Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Carolina Herrera and Tracey Emin. The airline also designed its own bespoke egg sculpture entitled ‘The Frying Lady’, created by its award-winning in-house design team and representing a playful interpretation of Virgin Atlantic’s famous flying lady, who features on its aircraft’s livery. Egg ‘finders’ win a variety of special treats based on the eggs’ corresponding location. Three lucky winners will take home Fabergé prizes of specially designed jewellery egg pendants with a combined retail price exceeding $125,000. After going on display at the city’s famous Rockefeller Center, the eggs will be auctioned through online site Paddle8, and Sotheby’s in New York, with 100% of the proceeds being donated to help disadvantaged local children and endangered wildlife. This year the proceeds will be presented to Elephant Family, a charity which is committed to working with local parties in Asia to help save the endangered Asian Elephants from extinction, and Agnes Gund’s Studio in a School arts-based non-profit organisation which enriches the lives of young people in New York through various arts projects.