One of the very first people I met when I arrived in Brussels to take up my duties as director of UNRIC was the Belgian designer Jean-Paul Knott. When he found out that I was working for the UN, he said I have always been interested in getting involved, how can I help? What does the UN need most? And I replied: Friends is what the UN needs most, and so was born F.U.N, Friend of the UN. As soon as we found the acronym, Jean-Paul got to work and came up with the blue F.U.N bracelets with We the Peoples written on it in European languages.
That was three years ago.
This year with the launch of CoolPlanet and Seal the Deal, our 2009 campaign against climate change, I went to Jean-Paul and asked him to make some Seal the Deal t-shirts for us. He said 'but if you are trying to be an example for environmentally responsible behaviour you shouldn't be encouraging people to get more t-shirts, why don't we give everyone ideas on how to make their own Seal the Deal t-shirts? Sounded like the perfect idea. Watch this space and You Tube for the video clip of how to make your own t-shirts into hip Seal the Deal t-shirts.
As we were talking in his atelier in Brussels, he started tearing some white cotton, downloading the Seal the Deal logo from our website and ironing it on a piece of white cotton-and there was the Seal the Deal pin. Since that day, our interns have been busy ironing, and ironing and ironing...they look pretty cool in any t-shirt.
Last but not least, Jean-Paul took to heart our slogan ItsCool2Care and added Cool2Care belts to his new line for the online clothing store 3 Suisses...what more can one ask of a Friend?
We are proud to name Jean-Paul Knott as the new CoolFriend on CoolPlanet2009.
Merci Jean-Paul, you are indeed our Coolest Friend yet.
Afsané Bassir-Pour
F.U.N was born when a friend asked how he can help the United Nations? "What does the UN need most" he asked? Friends are what the UN needs most, was our answer, and it just happens to spell F.U.N. 
