Story of Women

Happy Endings

Story of Women

Co-creation is essential for the Oloop group. Their working process is based on respecting and reviving manual labor and rituals revolving around social interaction. Here, the group’s role is not only the design of new products, but to transform handicraft production and strengthen social relations between all stakeholders in the production chain. Similarly, it demonstrates design’s potential to address complex societal challenges and break down cultural barriers. This way the group contributes to building a more sustainable social fabric based on local participation and traditional knowledge – and explicitly rejects the disposable culture that has long reigned largely unchecked. The design project Story of Women was created by the Oloop group in collaboration with the humanitarian group Society Up. The hand-embroidered textile-wall was created at the Happiness House in Jesenice and at the Asylum Center in Ljubljana. It’s the result of an eight-month creative journey of women of different ages, nationalities, religions, and life circumstances. Through storytelling in a safe and inclusive environment, immigrant women thought about their lives and the things that give their lives special value. The authors then translated their words into visual symbols – the patterns that the women embroidered on the textile wall.

Going forward, the group aims to develop the project for the market with a series of smaller and larger carpets and wall coverings suitable for use at home, all made from wool felt and cotton rope.

The process was also recorded for the short film Story of Women by Miha Možina.

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