Photo: UNHCR/Benjamin Loyseau
Ablaye Mar, an embroiderer from Sénégal, collaborates with Sabatina Leccia, a French artist and fashion designer, as part of a refugee program in France called La Fabrique Nomade.
One of the hardest necessities facing migrants is leaving behind careers that took years to develop. That’s why a program started in France is so inspiring. La Fabrique Nomade gives one group of refugees — artisans — a chance to make a living from what they know best.
Kamilia Lahrichi and Bela Szandelszky write about the initiative for the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR.
“Many hands are at work in Yasir Elamine’s pottery workshop in Paris. They cut, pound, squeeze, stencil and shape. Yasir, a potter from Sudan, and his French students swap ideas and aesthetics. As a refugee, he thought his life as an artist was over. The work of La Fabrique Nomade, a UNHCR-supported NGO, helped change his mind.
“La Fabrique Nomade encourages artisans among refugee and immigrant communities to retain and pass on their traditional crafts, from weaving and embroidery to pottery and woodworking.
“The group promotes their work and showcases it at design fairs. It supports the artists themselves, helping them to make connections in the art and design scene in France. It helps equip them with basic job-seeking skills such as building a portfolio and CV.
“The founder of La Fabrique Nomade, Inès Mesmar, says the goal is not just to enable refugees to use their talents but also to share valuable skills with the local community. For refugees, she says, it is about changing attitudes, ‘to allow them to transmit their knowledge, rather than being people who just receive help and assistance.’ ”
The UNHCR story is here. Check out DW for more detail, here.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
I love this story, of course! People seem eager to buy and make and have traditional, handmade crafts these days–as a reaction to mass-produced and techy, I suppose–so these artisans’ works should be appreciated.
Did you ever read a book called “Lark Rise to Candleford”? It describes a quaint English town coming into the industrial age. I remember only a few details, but one of the the saddest was that people immediately valued machine-made lace above the handmade kind, and the art of lace-making began to die out.
I just listed some small linen coasters on Etsy and someone contacted me to tell me that the lace on them was handmade bobbin lace! Who knew?! Now we have gone back to admiring and marveling when something like that is made by hand!
Such a wonderful story, and one we as a group of people all too often forget. Thank you for the reminder. In my class at the RSN is an incredibly talented embroiderer who left behind his tailoring career. He is now adding another element to his original training, and we all hope he will be successful here in the UK – he certainly deserves it!
I looked at your blog and the lovely pieces you have made at the Royal School of Needlework. Wonderful! I hope you’ll write more about the immigrant tailor in your class. You’ve made me curious.
To be honest, I’ve not really thought of his situation in a lot of detail before, though I admire him greatly. The good thing about the RSN is everyone is treated as equal, and respected for their work. But his story does make for some inspirational reading and listening, and is one that needs to be told!