Tala Barbotin Khalidy is a designer working with Lebanese and Syrian artisans to revitalize local endangered craft techniques, challenging perceptions of the Middle East and of handcraft through contemporary clothing designs.
WE NOURISH
THE BODY.
By changing our relationship with clothes, where they become an extension of our story and values and are meant to be cherished for years to come.
We value slow creations and mindful design, which is why we only create small batches of productions & work in pre-orders.
Each item is carefully designed between New York, and Beirut, where we then collaborate with local artisans in Lebanon and Syria for specific techniques they excel at (embroidery, crochet, weaving…)
We consider that embroidery and handmade pieces can be an expression of personal identity: our pieces are an outcome of layers of storytelling ranging from the cultural significance of a motif or fabric to our personal take on a technique or silhouette.
WE NOURISH
THE MIND.
By changing the lens through which we view our world and places commonly underrepresented, by exploring the rich and diverse culture of Lebanon and Syria.
Revaluing West Asian textiles and embroidery techniques allows us to introduce the area in a new light, by celebrating its culture, its artisans, its beautiful and intricate crafts, through contemporary and modern designs.
We collaborate with artisans in Lebanon and Syria to source small batches of locally woven fabrics and commission artisans versed in endangered embroidery techniques from the region. We source our fabrics from Damascus, our crochet artisans are a women’s collective in Jounieh, and our embroidery artisans are craftswomen based in Beirut. Here are animations of some of them at work:
The artisans we currently work with are based in Beirut, Jounieh, Baalbak and Damascus, each working with an intricate technique original to their region.
Our artisans in Baalbek and Damascus work respectively with the Tark and Aghabani techniques. Tark is a silver metal thread embroidery technique where the thread is punched into the fabric in one single stroke, and Aghabani is an embroidery technique from Syria traditionally used for table cloths and interiors, where designs are hand-stamped on cotton and filled with embroidery of different colored threads. For more information on our techniques take a look at our materials and motifs pages.
WE NOURISH
THE SOUL.
We also teach meditative embroidery workshops. Nourishment happens when we slow down and take the time to reflect on our relationship with ourselves and our surroundings.
This restorative practice allow us to be present with each action that we take; Where we are taking agency over our minds and what is happening to us, so that we are showing up in the world how we want to show up.
Our embroidery workshops are a way to exercise your mind in a focused way, through a physical outlet that reconnects you to our sense of touch, and engages our creative muscle.
THE STORY
Tala’s first inspiration came from wandering around in her grandmother’s Beirut shop as a kid, a shop filled with soaps, herbs, furniture and clothing from Syria and Lebanon.
Immersed in crafts local to the Levant as a child, Tala came back to them during her years at Parsons School of Design when her grandmother passed, taking a closer look at the richness of textiles from the region and the depth of meaning behind local embroidery motifs and techniques.
She then created her namesake brand and sought out to investigate Middle Eastern embroidery techniques: She started working with local artisans in Lebanon and Syria to incorporate these in collections of contemporary clothing, as a way to perpetuate local crafts, increase jobs in the field, and reintroduce the area to a Western audience through the lens of culture.
As she was practicing embroidery herself, she noticed that slowly the craft gave her time to process her own personal trauma. She then endeavored to start teaching others how to use the craft therapeutically, starting a pilot program with the Womankind non-profit in 2017, then developing the technique to serve trauma survivors in different NGOs and healing centers. In 2019, she became a certified meditation teacher, and now teaches separate meditation courses in addition to embroidery.
