In 2017 fashion designer Karim Adduchi decided to make his new collection, She Has 99 Names, together with refugees & migrants, people whose art doesn’t often find its way to the catwalk. He met Ann Cassano and Atusa Lalizadeh, both experienced in supporting status holders in the Netherlands. They worked together and involved Syrian, Russian and Eritrean artisans with knowledge of tailoring and embroidery. Moroccan migrant women, whose embroidery work is often confined to the home, embroidered a dress for the show.

Adduchi: ‘It was a varied group of people. We had a Syrian tailor cutting patterns at one table, five Moroccan women, embroidering and chatting at another table, a half-dressed model being fitted in the middle. It was a culture shock all around. Still, people returned. One Moroccan granny cooked chicken tajine for all of us, which we ate standing between the fabrics.’ This was the beginning of The World Makers Foundation. We support refugee and migrant artisans and makers. We provide a platform for their heritage, skills and expertise. We connect them to local designers and artists. We work with renowned designers and the work of our artisans has ended up in museums in the Netherlands as well as abroad.