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Atelier Driba
Founded by Mohammed Messaoudi in 1993, Atelier Driba is a safe harbor for Tunisian artisans, where dozens of ceramicists, weavers, woodworkers, mosaicists, and more — many employing generations-old techniques — find inspiration, community, and a pathway to the global marketplace. The Halfa Tray is the product of an ongoing collaboration between Atelier Driba, in the capital city of Tunis, and the H’ssir El Halfa collective, in the isolated Kasserine region. This women-only organization specializes in home goods made with halfa, an indigenous grass common to the steppes of North Africa; currently under threat, this beautiful grass provides a sheltered home for native flora and fauna, as well as a renewable economical resource for groups like H’ssir El Halfa. When Atelier Driba began working with the collective, they found that only a few, older weavers had retained their mastery, as the group had struggled to find a reliable market for their products: “The isolation of the craftswomen made them unfamiliar with the trends and aesthetic codes of the market, so they found it very difficult to market their products, and they lived almost exclusively on what they earned once a year at the craft fair,” says Karim Messaoudi, Mohammed’s son. In time, more women returned to the craft, while Atelier Driba assured that their work would find the audience — and consistent remuneration — it deserved.
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