Photos: Italy’s migrant tailors stitch together new lives | Hindustan Times
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Photos: Italy’s migrant tailors stitch together new lives

Updated On Aug 24, 2018 09:40 AM IST

After a decade working as a dressmaker for the New York City Ballet and Broadway productions, Lydia Witt moved to Rome to channel her passion in a new direction. Last year she started a small dressmaking cooperative around migrant tailors, an example of initiatives cropping up in Italy to help new arrivals assimilate and make a living while they wait for decisions on their asylum requests. The Sewing Cooperative — currently hosted by the Sala Uno center for contemporary arts — works with five migrants, mostly from West Africa, to make dresses on commission for clients.

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Daouda Doumbia, 26, from Ivory Coast, works at The Sewing Cooperative nonprofit organization, in Rome, Italy. An American costume maker living in Rome has created this dressmaking cooperative around migrant tailors, an example of initiatives cropping up in Italy to help new arrivals assimilate and make a living while they wait for decisions on their asylum requests. (Andrew Medichini / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Aug 24, 2018 09:40 AM IST

Daouda Doumbia, 26, from Ivory Coast, works at The Sewing Cooperative nonprofit organization, in Rome, Italy. An American costume maker living in Rome has created this dressmaking cooperative around migrant tailors, an example of initiatives cropping up in Italy to help new arrivals assimilate and make a living while they wait for decisions on their asylum requests. (Andrew Medichini / AP)

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Lydia Witt, 35, said she was inspired to open the Sewing Cooperative while volunteering at refugee centers, where she met many people who had worked as tailors in their home countries. She said one strong motivation was to challenge misconceptions on refugee resettlement in Europe, while helping skilled refugees get jobs and create dialogue with local residents. (Andrew Medichini / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Aug 24, 2018 09:40 AM IST

Lydia Witt, 35, said she was inspired to open the Sewing Cooperative while volunteering at refugee centers, where she met many people who had worked as tailors in their home countries. She said one strong motivation was to challenge misconceptions on refugee resettlement in Europe, while helping skilled refugees get jobs and create dialogue with local residents. (Andrew Medichini / AP)

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(L-R) Bakary Bamba, 26, from Ivory Coast, Lydia Witt, Daouda Doumbia and Lassina Coulibaly, 19, from Mali work at The Sewing Cooperative. Before moving to Rome, Witt worked for a decade as a dressmaker for the New York City Ballet and Broadway productions. (Andrew Medichini / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Aug 24, 2018 09:40 AM IST

(L-R) Bakary Bamba, 26, from Ivory Coast, Lydia Witt, Daouda Doumbia and Lassina Coulibaly, 19, from Mali work at The Sewing Cooperative. Before moving to Rome, Witt worked for a decade as a dressmaker for the New York City Ballet and Broadway productions. (Andrew Medichini / AP)

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The Sewing Cooperative — currently hosted by the Sala Uno center for contemporary arts — works with five migrants, mostly from West Africa, to make dresses on commission for clients. They use mostly colourful fabrics and create clothing according to their customers’ requests, basing the shapes on a “look book.” The pieces cost anything between 45 and 120 euros (between $51 and $137). (Andrew Medichini / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Aug 24, 2018 09:40 AM IST

The Sewing Cooperative — currently hosted by the Sala Uno center for contemporary arts — works with five migrants, mostly from West Africa, to make dresses on commission for clients. They use mostly colourful fabrics and create clothing according to their customers’ requests, basing the shapes on a “look book.” The pieces cost anything between 45 and 120 euros (between $51 and $137). (Andrew Medichini / AP)

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Similar tailoring initiatives involving migrants have emerged in recent years, such as Florence-based “Crune Lab,” and multicultural clothing brand Waxmore, which launched a campaign last year to fund a training course for four asylum-seeking tailors. (Andrew Medichini / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Aug 24, 2018 09:40 AM IST

Similar tailoring initiatives involving migrants have emerged in recent years, such as Florence-based “Crune Lab,” and multicultural clothing brand Waxmore, which launched a campaign last year to fund a training course for four asylum-seeking tailors. (Andrew Medichini / AP)

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On a recent August day, 26-year-old Daouda Doumbia was carefully sewing the hem on a brightly coloured skirt for an American client. Doumbia said he fled ethnic tensions only to realize that the countries to which he had fled — Mali, Algeria and then Libya — were also dangerous. Undertaking the sea crossing in 2016, he received papers allowing him to work while he awaits a response on his asylum request. (Andrew Medichini / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Aug 24, 2018 09:40 AM IST

On a recent August day, 26-year-old Daouda Doumbia was carefully sewing the hem on a brightly coloured skirt for an American client. Doumbia said he fled ethnic tensions only to realize that the countries to which he had fled — Mali, Algeria and then Libya — were also dangerous. Undertaking the sea crossing in 2016, he received papers allowing him to work while he awaits a response on his asylum request. (Andrew Medichini / AP)

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Bakary Bamba (2nd L) also had a tailoring business in Ivory Coast. He escaped, leaving his wife and two children behind, after his shop burned down and the family of a victim in the fire threatened to kill him for revenge. “I feel important, I feel good today,” said Bamba, explaining he’s happy to be safe after all he’s been through. “I work, I earn some money with the activities we do.” (Andrew Medichini / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Aug 24, 2018 09:40 AM IST

Bakary Bamba (2nd L) also had a tailoring business in Ivory Coast. He escaped, leaving his wife and two children behind, after his shop burned down and the family of a victim in the fire threatened to kill him for revenge. “I feel important, I feel good today,” said Bamba, explaining he’s happy to be safe after all he’s been through. “I work, I earn some money with the activities we do.” (Andrew Medichini / AP)

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Witt said she wants to show that migrants arrive in Europe with “gifts and talents they’re ready to use.” One of the misconceptions she faces is that she’s teaching the already-expert tailors how to sew. “It’s more about creating opportunities and opening doors,” she said. “We’re learning from each other every day.” (Andrew Medichini / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Aug 24, 2018 09:40 AM IST

Witt said she wants to show that migrants arrive in Europe with “gifts and talents they’re ready to use.” One of the misconceptions she faces is that she’s teaching the already-expert tailors how to sew. “It’s more about creating opportunities and opening doors,” she said. “We’re learning from each other every day.” (Andrew Medichini / AP)

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