As the festivities come nearer I like to browse beautiful gift shops. Here is one of my favourite: Hadeel: fair traded crafts from the West Banks, Gaza and Lebanon.
Palestinian textile art is amazing in its skillfulness; with it's mostly red-on-back stitchings it gets never boring and it provides a wide range of possibilities, from clothing, accessoires, home decor and any kind of elegant gift.
I adore the cushions and the shawls! So pretty and cheerful!
Hadeel is a
Fair Trade shop which aims to provide a sustainable source of income for
craftspeople working with social enterprises in the West Bank,
Gaza, Lebanon, as well as one in the Galilee and another in the Negev.
Our work also helps to sustain infrastructures, as many of the producer
groups also provide health, education and emergency services in their
communities which lack any form of local government which might do this.
Palestinian
handcrafts have always been living examples of ethnic art deeply rooted
in Palestinian folklore; they have now become a symbol of the people and
their striving for a normal way of life with a national identity, in
the face of the Israeli occupation of their land. Making beautiful
crafts also helps people psychologically to survive during long hours
and days when they are not permitted to travel because of
Israeli-imposed barriers and restrictions.
This last example is stunning: olive leaves in silver for a wonderful mediterranean feeling as pendant or earrings.
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