Community by Design

In 2019 we worked together with foundation Aminah and involved a group of migrant women with the work of Adduchi (a fashion designer). We organised workshops on sewing, embroidery and beading. But we also mapped their skills: if they knew of a particualr embroidery, Adduchi would find a way to include it in his designs. The sewing group was a combination of building community, making connections, valuing their own skills, but also learning new skills.

A Project by The World Makers Foundation

Community by Design is a project with the World Makers. The World Makers is a foundation I set up in 2019 together with Atusa Lalizadeh and fashion designer Karim Adduchi. The aim of the foundation was to support refugee and migrant artisans in their work, connect them with local designers and provide a platform for them.

A lot of our work was informed by the principles of processwork. Instead of looking at migrants and refugees as people who need to be 'integrated', where some corners are sanded down and the lacking parts are enhanced, we see them as people with unique skills they have brought with them. Our job is to angle the project in such a way that it will fit the skills of the participants, to appreciate what they can do and instead of ignoring that, and only teaching them how things work in The Netherlands.