Our Ethos

Ethical sourcing & sustainability is at the core of our design philosophy

By choosing Curated you are directly supporting sustainable insect farming initiatives that help to empower local communities and protect endangered habitats.

The Challenge

Habitat destruction is the number one cause of species extinction and loss of biodiversity on our planet.

The Challenge

While some habitat destruction is driven by indirect factors like climate change and  pollution, the overwhelming majority is due to conversion of wild areas for agriculture, urbanisation, and resource extraction.

  • It’s estimated that between 100 - 10,000 species go extinct each year.

    This is between 100 to 1,000 times faster than historic pre-human extinction rates.

    — Dr Katie Collins, Curator at the Natural History Museum of London

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  • 85% of all Threatened and Endangered species attribute Habitat Loss as the dominant cause for their decline.

    Habitat loss is the dominant threat to an extraordinary 40 times more species than climate change

    - ICUN Red List Update

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  • 1/2 of the world's original forests have already disappeared

    Yet deforestation is still occurring at a rate ten times higher than any possible level of regrowth.

    World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)

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  • Tropical forests are being cleared at a rate of 17 million hectares each year. 

    Tropical Forests contain more than half of the Earth's species, but are especially vulnerable to deforestation and destructive resource extraction.

    - Food and Agriculture Organisation for the United Nations (UN FAO)

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  • 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity is currently protected by Indigenous Peoples

    The fate of protected areas rests largely in the hands of local people.

    These communities face an enormous challenge: how to balance economic growth with the preservation of these vulnerable habitats.

    - World Economic Forum

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  • Between 3.5 billion and 5.76 billion people rely on forests for their livelihoods

    Approximately half of these are indigenous peoples and local communities.

    These people are also the most affected by damage to natural ecosystems.

    - C. M. Shackleton & A. De Vos, Forest policy and Economics

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Without economic independence and security, communities and indigenous lands are more vulnerable to the encroachment of extractive industries.

Our suppliers are members of sustainable insect ranching programs, which work to preserve and restore the areas of tropical rainforest in which these insects live.

Not only does insect ranching offer local people a renewable, sustainable “crop” to farm, it also provides an economic incentive to protect these endangered habitats and a viable alternative to environmentally destructive practices such as deforestation for logging and agriculture.

The Solution

Entomologists and environmentalists agree that sustainable community enterprises such as insect ranching may offer a vital role in the conservation of insect populations in the wild, as well as the habitats in which they live.

The Kipepeo Project

Kipepeo is a community based enterprise that supports the livelihoods of people living around Arabuko Sokoke forest in Kenya

Kipepeo (Swahili for butterfly) farms and markets butterfly and moth pupae as well as honey and silk cloth produced by the community.

Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) & Kenya Forestry Service coordinate the project and ensure through training and monitoring that the insects are bred and raised in a sustainable manner from wild parent stock. 

Insect farming has already led to the resurgence of threatened insect species in Papua New Guinea and Kenya, while simultaneously helping to support and empower local communities.

  • Butterfly Farming in Papua New Guinea

    Hutton, A. F. (1985). Butterfly farming
    in Papua New Guinea. Oryx,
    19, 158–162.

    Read

  • Managing tropical animal resources in Papua New Guinea

    Published by National Academy Press, Washington D.C, 1985

    read

  • The Kipepeo Project

    Gordon, I., & Ayiemba, W. (2003).Harnessing Butterfly Biodiversity for Improving Livelihoods and Forest Conservation: The Kipepeo Project. The Journal of Environment & Development, 12, 82–98.

    read

  • Conservation and community development in Kenya

    Omenge, P. (2002). Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

    read

  • Curated Studio is helping to fund tree planting projects.

    Trees absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, reducing the overall carbon footprint.

    This process helps balance our emission output and maintain environmental sustainability while supporting reforestation and biodiversity.

  • Both ourselves and our suppliers use recycled material through as much of the design & production process as possible. 

    We also package all of our products using 100% recyclable or reusable materials to reduce our environmental impact.

  • All of our card mounts and solid oak stands are FSC certified, meaning that the trees used are harvested responsibly and replaced to ensure no net loss of forest. 

  • When you purchase FSC-labelled products, you’re helping forests, and the people that rely on them, thrive by supporting: 

    - Zero deforestation

    - Fair wage and work environment 

    - Biodiversity conservation

    - The legal and cultural rights of people living in forested areas

Our Carbon Commitment

We are working hard to be a carbon neutral brand, by investing in planting trees to offset our carbon emissions, using locally sourced materials whenever possible, and using 100% recyclable or reusable packaging.

“By turning often spectacular, yet common- place, insects into a cash crop, villagers are earning money while participating in a rational wildlife management programme that is helping to save not only endangered species of insects, and indirectly other wildlife such as birds and mammals, but more importantly the natural habitat itself.”

— Angus F. Hutton, Butterfly Farming in Papua New Guinea