{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1304501"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1304501/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JG5987/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JG5987/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2016JG5987","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JG5993","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JG5995","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JG6024","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JG6043","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JG6045","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JG5990","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JG6028","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1304501","accessionNumber":"CD.3-2015","objectType":"Mobile telephone","titles":[{"title":"Fairphone","type":"manufacturer's title"}],"summaryDescription":"The Fairphone is a smartphone with 110 mm (4.3 inch) screen, measured across the diagonal, with replaceable battery, two sim card slots and front and rear facing cameras.  The smartphone itself is a mid-range device, with an open-source Android operating system with user interface  by Kwamecorp. It is based on a design licensed from Chinese manufacturer A’Hong, and is the first smartphone  to be manufactured with a view to making the industry fairer and more sustainable. \r\n\r\nBeginning as a campaign in 2010 by designer Bas van Abel, Fairphone was founded initially as a non-profit  advocacy group to raise awareness of the relationship between conflict minerals and electronic goods.  Smartphones use up to 60 different minerals in their manufacture, including tantalum, tungsten, tin and gold  which are often extracted from ore mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Rich in natural resources, raw  materials are this country’s largest export, 50% of which go to China where the majority of smartphone parts are  made. The DRC is politically unstable with ongoing civil war and endemic corruption which has led to many  mines being controlled by armed groups. \r\n\r\nThe route to Fairphone becoming a real product started in 2012, when the company’s application for support  was accepted by Bethnal Green Ventures, an accelerator for tech startups with a social and environmental  conscience. Bethnal Green Ventures provided £15,000 investment and access to successful engineers and  entrepreneurs in the technology sector. To make their ambition a reality, however, Fairphone had to raise full  manufacturing funding through an online campaign. 5000 backers were asked to pay €325 for a phone before a  manufacturer was even approached. Despite never having produced a phone before, through extensive media  campaigning Fairphone reached the required 5000 on 5 June 2013. They then began to approach several  manufacturers in China before being accepted by GuoHong (a subsidiary of A’Hong), who agreed to an order of  25,000 taking the funds raised for 5000 as down payment for the larger consignment.\r\n\r\nThis first production run sold out by November 2013, with a second batch of 35,000 phones produced and  released on 21 May 2014. These were sold out by January 2015.\r\n\r\nOn 4 November 2014, Van Abel blogged about his ambitions for the next Fairphone model, which would be  fully designed in-house1. It would be one of the first smartphones on the market with modular  components, so that if any parts failed they could be individually replaced by the consumer.  Shipping of the first 15,000 Fairphone 2s has been set for November 2015, following the same  crowdfunding goal as the first.\r\n\r\nOne Fairphone was displayed in a case in the Silver gallery as part of the the Civic Objects  distributed display of the 2015 exhibition All of This Belongs to You. It highlighted the lack of  general understanding regarding the provenance of materials for consumer objects owned by  almost every visitor to the museum.\r\n\r\nThe Fairphone is also part of our growing collection of objects representing new, ethical approaches to the manufacture and distribution of electronics, alongside the One Laptop Per Child, Aakash tablet and Mwanga Bora lantern, Rare Earthenware vases from Unknown Fields Division and the Toaster Project from Thomas Thwaites.\r\n\r\n\t1Van Abel, B. (2014, November 4). Next chapter in Fairphone's strategy: Outlook for 2015 |  Fairphone. Retrieved September 7, 2015. \r\n\r\n","physicalDescription":"Android mobile telephone by Fairphone, in box with userguide and 7 postcards.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"GuoHong","id":"AUTH336894"},"association":{"text":"manufacturer","id":"x33306"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Fairphone","id":"AUTH333561"},"association":{"text":"designers","id":"AAT25190"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"glass","id":"AAT10797"},{"text":"metal","id":"AAT10900"},{"text":"plastic","id":"AAT14570"},{"text":"electronic components","id":"THES274431"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Tin soldering paste, tantulam capacitors, tungsten used in vibration motor, gold printed circuit board","categories":[{"text":"Telecommunication","id":"THES49028"},{"text":"Accessories","id":"THES48998"},{"text":"Interiors","id":"THES48933"},{"text":"Household objects","id":"THES48939"},{"text":"Shekou","id":"THES279777"},{"text":"Values of Design","id":"THES279818"},{"text":"Design Society","id":"THES279819"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"DAD","id":"THES260586"},"images":["2016JG5987","2016JG5993","2016JG5995","2016JG6024","2016JG6043","2016JG6045","2016JG5990","2016JG6028"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"CA021","id":"THES413427"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"CA021","id":"THES413427"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"CA021","id":"THES413427"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"CA021","id":"THES413427"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"CA021","id":"THES413427"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"CA021","id":"THES413427"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"CA021","id":"THES413427"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"CA021","id":"THES413427"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"CA021","id":"THES413427"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"CA021","id":"THES413427"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"CA021","id":"THES413427"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"mobile telephones","id":"x40627"}],[{"text":"packaging","id":"AAT55100"}],[{"text":"manuals","id":"AAT26395"}],[{"text":"postcard","id":"AAT26816"}],[{"text":"postcard","id":"AAT26816"}],[{"text":"postcard","id":"AAT26816"}],[{"text":"postcard","id":"AAT26816"}],[{"text":"postcard","id":"AAT26816"}],[{"text":"postcard","id":"AAT26816"}],[{"text":"postcard","id":"AAT26816"}],[{"text":"postcard","id":"AAT26816"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"China","id":"x29398"},"association":{"text":"manufactured","id":"x29350"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"2013","earliest":"2013-01-01","latest":"2013-12-31"},"association":{"text":"manufactured","id":"x29350"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Fairphone","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"12.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"02/12/2014","earliest":"2014-12-02","latest":"2014-12-02"},"part":"CD.3:1-2015","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"6.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"02/12/2014","earliest":"2014-12-02","latest":"2014-12-02"},"part":"CD.3:1-2015","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"02/12/2014","earliest":"2014-12-02","latest":"2014-12-02"},"part":"CD.3:1-2015","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Fairphone Android mobile telephone with packaging and ephemera, Fairphone, China, 2013","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["CD.3:1-2015","CD.3:2-2015","CD.3:3-2015","CD.3:4-2015","CD.3:5-2015","CD.3:6-2015","CD.3:7-2015","CD.3:8-2015","CD.3:9-2015","CD.3:10-2015","CD.3:11-2015"],"accessionNumberNum":"3","accessionNumberPrefix":"CD","accessionYear":2015,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Phone","Box","User Guide","Postcard","Postcard","Postcard","Postcard","Postcard","Postcard","Postcard"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-10-17","recordCreationDate":"2014-12-02","availableToBook":false}}