Design Workshop Re-Threaded by Sam Mar

On October 20^th, Vox Culture hosted a design workshop at the warehouse in support of The Community Cloth, a Houston based non-profit that empowers refugee artisan women to create and sell their own hand-made arts, crafts, and clothing.

The purpose of the event was to highlight the amazing work that Community Cloth is doing to change the lives of refugee women and raise awareness of the needs that exist in our own local community. Vox Culture helped to set up an instructional workshop where volunteers taught a new skill to attendees including artisan refugees in the form of beaded wrap bracelets.  Each attendee at the event purchased a bracelet kit, proceeds of which went towards the sponsorship of an artisan from The Community Cloth.

Attendees at the Vox Culture Design Workshop Event benefiting The Community Cloth

As the room filled with a diverse mix of individuals and families, Community Cloth leaders introduced everyone to their mission and social cause. Houston is home to one of the largest refugee populations in the United States.  One of the most unique aspects of refugees, is that they arrive with the right to work right away. As with many people, it is a challenge to find a job. What they do have are unique skills such as embroidery or weaving that express a rich cultural heritage in each product that is created. The Community Cloth empowers these women by teaching them new skills, helping them with marketing, and providing them with seed grants for raw materials.  After learning about Community Cloth, Vox volunteers went to work with detailed instructions and live demonstrations on how to create the intricate wrap bracelets.

Vox Volunteers teaching the bracelet technique

The bracelets were made out of string and beads, requiring a certain level of patience and dexterity that I was not able to maintain for very long. Looking around, I saw that many of my peers and the artisans had a much higher aptitude for bracelet-making and soon the room fell into a steady rhythm of ins and outs, ups and overs.  As the day came to a close, attendees were invited to view and purchase some of the other products that the Community Cloth artisans had made including scarves, hats, jewelry and clothing. It was nice to see that 100% of proceeds from each sale went to the artisan that created the product.

Hand-made jewelry and woven products from the Community Cloth refugee artisans

The design workshop left everyone who attended with a refreshing new view of The Community Cloth’s mission, as well as a new skill and hopefully (for most) a somewhat functional wrap bracelet.  Thanks to Vox for organizing and designing another successful event to benefit the Houston community and raise awareness for local causes.

As far as I got in my wrap bracelet (this took me 2 hours)

SEE MORE PHOTOS HERE.

SPECIAL THANKS TO: *Instructor Julie Tien *Sprinkles Cupcakes *Vox Volunteers AND *Our friends from The Community Cloth!