THE MOROCCAN PAINTER'S SHIRT

The embroidery of the Moroccan Painter’s Shirt doesn’t simply embellish… the stitch work, a traditional Berber technique, literally constructs the shirt – assembling the panels, whilst outlining the seams, bringing together the decorative and the functional.

Two years ago Charles Sébline began collaborating with a women’s cooperative located in the lower Atlas mountains in Morocco. This technique, called RT, has been passed on through generations - it is mastered by only a few of the embroiderers at the cooperative, all of them members of the same family.

Collaborating with these highly skilled artisans is humbling on a human level as well as creatively enriching. Through this work we play a small part in helping women in this isolated mountain community to become financially independent. Each shirt is the fruit of an exchange which celebrates craft and brings together different cultures.