In August 2019, we set up in a small room in Goldenbridge, Dublin 8. a room on loan to us (very kindly) from Dublin City Council. In that small room, our Textile Studio was born, and we completed our first commercial contract - a set of Irish linen aprons for Domini Kemp's new venture The Commons.
We started with a team of 3 women and worked two days a week making products for We Make Good and working to earn more small contracts. Over the next 8 months we built a warm and supportive workspace when we moved to our second location, where our team felt comfortable and safe doing what they love, where they were building on their existing sewing skills, improving their english language skills and also very importantly, making friends. Those three women, from opposite corners of the African continent and all from a refugee background, built the foundations of the studio with their good nature, enthusiasm and hard work. Elsa, Virginie, Emilia.
When Covid hit, and our studio closed, it was these same women who sewed masks tirelessly from home and then when demand far exceeded what we could produce, we grew our team - the team who made a tough year, a really good year.
