Our embroidery coordinator in Beirut tells us what the craft has meant to her throughout her life.

Our annual Valentine’s Day recipe - this year, chicken with freekeh, a delicious smoky cracked grain.

Inspiration from Morris & Co., design from The Fabled Thread, and stitching from Oshana… how some very special pieces came to be.

We are sending cash grants to refugee families in Lebanon who have been forced to leave their homes due to the Israeli bombardment. This will enable people in dire need to buy what they need most, be that blankets or food, medicines or nappies. You can help.

Our parent charity Makani has been teaching women to upcycle old fabric by making rag rugs.

Earlier this year, the team from the British Red Cross contacted Oshana to enquire about a commission. They had come across the incredible embroidery skills of our artisans, and asked if we could help them with a very special gift for one of their major donors. Read about the commission here.

For Glastonbury Festival 2024, Oshana’s artisans were invited to design and stitch the poster for the Park Stage. Our team were beyond excited by this incredible opportunity to share the skill and cultural heritage of our artisans with Glastonbury’s passionate community.

Jouhayna Fadel is a Syrian refugee, and one of Oshana’s incredible artisans. Jouhayna was one of ten refugee women who took part in Makani’s project ‘Film For Freedom’. Watch her film, a story of her own transformation, here.

For Valentine’s Day, three love poems and a little introduction to Syria’s national poet, women’s rights supporter and opponent of dictatorship Nizar Qabbani

For Valentine’s Day, here is one of our favourite recipes from our cookbook ‘Syria: Recipes from Home’. Pretty as a picture, and sweet as falling in love, this cake will make a romantic gesture that will be remembered for a long time.

“My name is Ahlam, it means “dreams”. For me Makani represents a dream being woven together, like the crochet threads I work with, building a new home, a new life.” Our artisan Ahlam shares her story of divorce, displacement and making dreams come true.

The celebrated Material Power exhibition has transferred from Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge to the Whitworth Art Gallery Manchester.

Embroidery is the adornment of cloth to add meaning and value. As such, it is about identity – making a claim about who you are, and displaying that for others to see. This is both personal and political, and nowhere is this more true than in the modern Middle East.

Oshana has always supported Palestinian refugee women from Syria alongside our Syrian sisters. As violence grips the Middle East again, we believe that the the only way to peace is to ensure the freedom, dignity and equality of everyone in the region - including the refugees.

Khouloud is a member of Oshana’s knitting club, a Syrian refugee, and a woman who has always had to fight against the odds to realise her own dreams and protect her loved ones.

Preserving this traditional under threat and providing employment for vulnerable women.

Our co-founder remembers her childhood in Syria and learning embroidery from her grandmother.

Syria’s Bedouin have had a huge influence on the embroidery and handcrafts of the entire region, and of course on Oshana’s own designs.