Azizi Life partners with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Rwanda, and in 2021 a one-of-a-kind gorilla nose print basket woven in partnership with Azizi Life was gifted to Ellen DeGeneres on her show. Here is the story behind the basket, the weaver who made it, and the new Fossey Fund campus where an Azizi Life gift shop now lives.

On her November 4, 2021, show, Ellen DeGeneres was gifted a one-of-a-kind Gorilla Nose Print Basket by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund CEO, Dr. Tara Stoinski. This basket was created by an expert weaver in partnership with Azizi Life!

Dr. Tara Stoinski, the President, CEO, and Chief Scientific Officer of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, gave Ellen an update on The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Rwanda and presented her with an Azizi Life basket.

PHOTO: Ellen and Portia in Rwanda courtesy of The Ellen Fund.

What Is a Gorilla Nose Print?

The late Dian Fossey was the world’s leading authority on the mountain gorillas of Rwanda. As she observed the primates, she noted that each one has a unique pattern of wrinkles on its nose. Fossey used these wrinkles, known as “nose prints,” as one of the primary identifiers of the gorillas she came to know in her research. The design used for the gorilla nose print basket was inspired by the nose print of a Rwandan gorilla named Maggie, who was studied by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund for the entirety of her life and was a favorite of Sigourney Weaver’s when she was filming Gorillas in the Mist.

PHOTO: Maggie and sketch of her nose print used to create the Gorilla Nose Print Bowl design.

How the Collaboration Came Together

Our Ellen Show cameo is just a small part of a progressing story happening in Rwanda for gorilla conservation through the Fossey Fund, for endangered species protection through Ellen DeGeneres, and for artisan opportunity through Azizi Life.

In 2018, Portia de Rossi founded The Ellen Fund as a gift to honor Ellen DeGeneres’s efforts to protect endangered wildlife. Its first project was to support the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s initiative to build a permanent, purpose-built home for their work to conserve gorillas and help the people who share their forest home. Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de Rossi, and their team visited Rwanda and the Fossey Fund’s headquarters later that year. The trip and coverage of Rwanda created buzz that even benefited Azizi Life through a feature on The Ellen Fund’s Holiday 2020 Gift Guide.

PHOTO: Ellen and Portia with the Gorilla Fund team and former building, courtesy of The Ellen Fund.

The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund is nestled adjacent to Volcanoes National Park. The Fossey Fund is the world’s longest-running and largest organization dedicated entirely to the conservation of mountain gorillas. Their team and programs have grown dramatically since Dian’s time, such that they now host thousands of students, researchers, and tourists each year.

The new multi-acre, eco-friendly facility has been named one of the top ten anticipated architectural projects by CNN and is the headquarters of the Fossey Fund’s programs in Rwanda. The campus includes an interactive exhibit to educate local communities and tourists; classrooms, a computer lab, and a library to train the next generation of conservationists; cutting-edge lab spaces for research; on-site residences for visiting students and scientists; and, drum roll please, an Azizi Life gift shop. Azizi Life also works with local artisans to offer demonstrations, teaching, and cultural experience days. This partnership expands Azizi Life’s reach to northern Rwanda, an area we had never worked in before.

PHOTO: Campus photo: Rendering courtesy of MASS Design Group.

Meet Yvonne, the Weaver Behind the Basket

Azizi Life is no stranger to trailblazers and inspiring women. In fact, the Gorilla Nose Print bowl presented to Ellen was created by a trailblazer from rural Rwanda. Yvonne Vuguziga is a 28-year-old mother of two and the expert weaver who created it. Yvonne has been weaving since before she could read. “Weaving runs in my blood,” she says. All the women in her family are weavers, and many of them weave together in the Abibumbye Cooperative.

PHOTO: Yvonne with one of her original Gorilla Print Bowls.

Yvonne’s mother was widowed when she was young and used her sales of bowls to raise Yvonne by herself. Yvonne would help her mom thread the needles as she wove and play at imitating her. At six years old, Yvonne sold her first bowl. During school breaks, she wove to help cover the cost of her own school supplies and tuition. Among weavers, not everyone has the gift of teaching others, and very few are able to create new designs, but Yvonne has that gift and used it to create the Gorilla Nose Print Bowl. She has even taught her husband, Sylvain, to weave, and this fall she went back to school to finish her education, studying chemistry and biology with hopes of becoming a nurse or lab technician.

PHOTO: Yvonne with her son, Ivan Gift

Azizi Life, being Rwandan-owned and women-led, celebrates these milestones with the Fossey Fund. We look forward to connecting with new customers and helping even more people fall in love with Rwanda, its beauty, and its people. Know someone wild about gorillas? Our hand-carved gorilla ornaments are a fun way to bring Rwanda’s treasure and Rwanda gorilla conservation story to your holiday celebrations.