Honest Handcrafted Collobration
Whether it is celebrating the natural fibres of linen, the rawness of terracotta or the tactile qualities of porcelain, handmade products achieve a certain honesty which is hard to beat. We’ve seen this appreciation and fondness of natural handcrafted objects become a trend over the last few years, and in the process more artist and makers have been discovered.
This collaboration is one such discovery we admire. It’s a project by the German Studio Gutedort and women from Iraq El Amir in Jordan.
Jennifer Heir and Eva Schlechte travelled to Jordan to host a workshop with the local women aimed to help them produce handmade objects that are sustainable and provide a solid income for their community. By harnessing traditional paper craft techniques, together they were able to reshape it to create a new product – paper bowls.
These charming bowls are created using as little water as possible and natural dyes to develop different hues. By using curcuma, coffee, paprika powder, sumac, carcade, palm leaf and mansaf green as colour pigments the hand crafted products come alive.
Like all handmade objects, each bowl evokes a different sensation as the women experimented with leaves, flower, grasses and spices to alter the forms and the hues. What is such a simple idea has produced not only an enriching collaboration and a sense of ownership among the women, but a highly desirable handcrafted product.
