Women Artisans of Morocco author Susan Schaefer Davis shares some great examples of how our books and her tours are improving the lives of women artisans in Morocco. Thanks, Susan!
While working on my book on Moroccan artisans, it was obvious that the women I spoke with hoped that being in a book would increase sales of their products–and I hoped for the same thing. My main goal was to present the women and their work, but I thought increased sales would be a benefit they would feel directly. And I’m pleased to report that it has begun to happen.
The first instance was when Lisa, a young woman who read Women Artisans of Morocco and then came on a trip to meet the artisans, made an order. She loved the Fes embroidery, resembling counted cross stitch but exactly the same on both sides. And she loved the artisans, a group of women with mobility challenges who have worked together for twenty years and have a great esprit de corps. They call their co-op “The Persistent Ones” because they face and overcome many challenges in their situation.
Once home, Lisa decided she wanted a large piece of Fes embroidery, and ordered a sheet and two pillow cases, items often found in a Moroccan bride’s trousseau.
In another case, a woman who had purchased the book decided she had to have the rug on page 150 and contacted me, and luckily it was still available. (However, if it had been sold, the N’kob women are excellent weavers and could have reproduced it – and most others from their village that appear in the book.)
Social media are involved too. When I posted a photo of village women and their rugs from a recent trip, a friend who saw the post wanted the bright gold rug, so I contacted the villagers to get the price and had it shipped to her; it now lives happily in downtown Philadelphia.
Inspired by the saga of the gold rug, on my trip last June I took a photo of unsold rugs only after our visiting group had bought twenty-one!
If any of these tempt you, contact me at sdavis@uslink.net, and I can get more information. If you find a rug you like in the book, you can find contact information for the artisans listed in Resources in the back of the book. And if you’d like to meet the artisans, consider a tour: you can organize your own group of 8-16 people and contact me.
—Susan Schaefer Davis
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Experience the Benefit of Books with Women Artisans of Morocco and other Thrums Books.
Hurray! Good job, Susan. May this scattering of seeds sprout an even greater crop.
Thanks, Deb – I hope so!