Our embroiderers work from small independent studios scattered around the outskirts of Beirut.
A talented collective of women artisans who gather each day to work on their fine heritage craft: Palestinian cross-stitch, with attention to quality and colours and hundreds of years of culture and stories behind it, still practiced throughout the Levant and across the world in diasporas.
One prominent studio is independently run by Fatima Khalife, a single mother whose love for embroidery started when she arrived in Beirut in 2011 with her three children after fleeing from war-torn Syria. Initially trained by the Alsama Project before setting out on her own in July 2021.
Her studio, Jana, is based in the Beiruti southern suburbs and provides work to women living in some of the toughest and precarious conditions. Jana Studio is a safe communal women’s space and the work is of incredibly high quality rivalling the most established embroidery houses in the region.
“This initiative was born from the darkest conditions and has given the women the strength and confidence to survive and thrive.”
Fatima Head Embroiderer JANA Studio
