We believe in rippling forward 10% of our profits from sales

to our intiatives to help save the bees.

This is a necessity for not only our community

but for the world.

Bee the Ripple Charity

Lady Ripple’s core inspiration behind her ethos has looked to Nature as a source of creativity. We are strongly committed to our mission of sustainability and to helping the environment where we can. Our charity Bee the Ripple is our initiative to make a change and bring awareness to the plight of the bees and their worldwide collapse of populations. Save the bees!

• The bee’s role is paramount in propagating the food chain for human survival and for maintaining the eco-balance of nature. 

• The bee population is a direct litmus test that denotes the health indication of any environment in which both humans, plants, insects and animals live.

• 1 in 3 things of what we eat or drink is a direct result of bee pollination.

• Current research shows that the presence of bees in cities is an excellent way to help urban centers become greener which in turn ripples out to provide much healthier living conditions for its residents.    Studying bees in urban settings is also being used to monitor the quality of air and level of pollutants which we all breathe and ingest.  

• When beehives are housed in any location, initially it is not for the honey they will produce, but moreover for the bees ability to bring about better biodiversity, increased bee populations, pollination and balance to any ecosystem. In Europe, where 80% of its Human population is urban dwelling, helping its biodiversity is a very real necessity.

• The bees’ intelligent ways in which they work as community and for sustaining the good of the hive is a balanced and healthy symbol from which to learn.

Bee the Ripple Registered Italian Charity: No.94301440486

Creating Charitable Ripples

Not dissimilar to humans, honey-bees are social insects that prosper when they are interacting and serving the good of all.  They share their food sources.  They guide each other through their vibrations.  They help their young.  They work as a team.  They vary their work tasks in an effort to maintain the health, efficiency and survival of their hive and their queen.  This sort of social interaction doesn’t seem that remote from the way we humans interact in a way which benefits our communities and families.  Unlike humans, bees play a crucial role in our lives as one in three things we eat and drink is a direct result of bee pollination.  Bee are fundamental pollinators that enable the earth its healthy greening effect and humans their fundamental food sources.

Since its inception in 2020, our Bee the Ripple Charity (nonprofit) is gaining its momentum as an association to help save the bees from collapsing populations and promote a more sustainable eco-system.  Establishing better biodiversity in the city of Florence with distribution of our bee-flower-seeds and creating urban beehives, remains our primary focus.  Unlike other major cities in the world – such as Rome, New York, London, Tokyo and Paris – Florence has no significant programme to expand its urban bee-hive populations.  Lady Ripple is gradually changing that.  With 80% of the Europe’s population now being urban dwellers, establishing a sustainable beehive programme within Florence can only benefit the city, its residents and the millions of travellers from afar who partake in its beauty.

Florence is an ideal setting for urban bee-keeping as the Arno provides a perfect water source for bees and the city has a multitude of private and public gardens and terraces rich with food sources for bees.  A bee has a range of 3 km which it spans daily looking for food sources to feed the hive.   In collaboration with the City of Florence, Bee the Ripple received a “patrioncino” (an important endorsement) for the launch of the city’s first urban beehives last September and we are now in discussion with them to find more iconic locations on buildings, businesses and gardens throughout the city to house more hives.  

As the public becomes both enthusiastic and aware of our mission, funding for our urban bee-hive initiative is steadily arriving from the private sector in the form of one-off donations, on-going monthly contributions, gifting hives, adopting a bee family and sponsoring entire hives.  We continue to donate 10% of our profits from sales of our Lady Ripple jewellery and 50% of sales from our special artisan co-ripple jewellery collection.  We are now actively seeking corporate sponsorship that aligns with our sustainable values.  

In June of 2021, Lady Ripple took its commitment to helping nature further by founding its charitable organization “Bee the Ripple”. Realising the need to continue their campaign to help save the bees, Lady Ripple is dedicating itself to the cause in this more beneficial way. Bee the Ripple is now taking donations for its Adopt-a-Hive programme that is creating organic beekeeping in Florence and beyond as well as continuing our mission to spread awareness to this urgent cause.

It is a little-known fact that one and three things that we eat or drink is a direct outcome of the pollination that the bees undertake. “The biodiversity of our planet is delicate, precious and under attack, and we are aiming to do our bit where we can,” explains Laura Shadden, president of the charity. “We begin with the bees as they are incredibly fundamental in creating the balance within nature.”

With heavy industrial farming beekeeping practices, the use of toxic pesticides, property development and climate change, bees are finding their habitats under attack. As a result, bee populations have collapsed at a dramatic rate. In some parts of the world, humans now have to pollinate by hand as bees have become extinct in certain regions. “Organic farming is the only way to go,” explains Shadden. “Harmful pesticides have greatly harmed and compromised the biodiversity of the countryside, and practicing responsible organic beekeeping is a fundamental way to begin to change things.” Bees have a 3km range that they fly daily to find their food from the flowers and trees, so the placement of the hives is one of the most important factors of organic beekeeping.

Through the Lady Ripple social media platform, Bee the Ripple has been focused upon bringing awareness to the fundamental plight of the bee. Lady Ripple sponsors its own beehives that are being managed in the countryside and in Florence by the Tuscan organic apiculturists Fior da Fiore. Since its inception, Lady Ripple has been distributing organic bee seeds with every purchase of its iconic line of artisan bee jewelry.

“We are now focusing upon the urban bee-keeping aspect of our charity,” Shadden reports. “Florence is the perfect city for this with the Arno being so close and the plentitude of gardens both public and private.” Urban bee keeping has been on the rise this past decade in major cities around the world and Bee the Ripple wants to encourage the practice in Florence. “It is an opportune way to show to all of its residents as well as its multitudes of tourists that arrive in Florence, that we are serious about promoting a sustainable lifestyle and giving back to nature where we can,” explains Shadden. “Once we have created this ripple, we can then move forward to the education sector to bring this knowledge to children.”