Xoomba Shows!
This year we organized a series of intimate showings of the Xoomba clothing line in Philadelphia, New York, Paris and Martha’s vineyard. Each event was made possible by the generous collaboration of dear friends. Nat and Pam Benjamin opened their home to us in Martha’s Vineyard. Quin Bauriedel opened this glorious space in the pig Iron School for Theater in Philadelphia and Emanuelle Delpeche helped us organize.
Geoffe Sobelle gave us access to the Westbeth Black Box Theater in New York. Ulysse Uketselidis hosted us in his luminous artist Studio in Paris while old and dear acquaintances from Belleville (Julie, Philippe and Arthur) lent hands to set up and Celine Motard brought a fragrant ambiance with her Maderosa Essential Oils. Friends and friends of friends cheerfully modeled the clothes. Spending time with people interested in Xoomba was a delight.
We were selected for the Artisan Refugee Accelerator Program organized by the artisan incubator, Nest, (working with
MADE 51, the UN program to support refugee artisans, and the Council of American Fashion Designers). This project culminated in the making of a capsule collection with pieces made by each of the six organisations selected and designed in collaboration with the designer Mimi Plange. Xoomba made this clutch bag from fabric woven by weavers that have been forcibly displaced from their rural villages here in Burkina. The yarn was also spun by women who were displaced. We look forward to continued work with Made 51 and creating livelihoods for artisans rebuilding their lives after forced displacement.
Thanks to a micro grant from The Hand Made to Market foundation, the generous time of the photographer, Max Oglesbee, the grandiose space of Vitali N and the participation of a diverse team of models, we organized a photoshoot in New York. The resulting images show Xoomba creates fashion to live in.
And to end the year with joy - We were fortunate to have our products made with fabric woven by displaced weavers selected to be featured in the Brown University Alumni magazine gift listing.
Looking forward - We hope to see you in the spring or the fall as we plan more exhibitions of Xoomba fashion. We will revisit some of the past spaces and pop up in new spots as well (New Orleans - Vermont - Bourges, France for example) If you have ideas for places to show or would like to host Xoomba please let us know!
On the production side we continue to strive for excellence:
improving our dye process both ecologically and for color quality and precision
training more weavers to use our recently acquired solar powered looms while continuing to work with traditional looms, creating revenues for both the communities of displaced people and the local residents of our city, Bobo Dioulasso
training our sewers to achieve precision and attention to minute detail
All this while we continue to advocate for organic cotton agriculture and its local processing.
