Joy is Resistance Embroidery Hoop Art | Made by Refugee Women

Joy is Resistance

Hand-embroidered hoop art | 20 cm wooden hoop

Joy is not the absence of struggle. It is what survives it.

A woman from a new group at Alsama Studio in Shatila, Beirut, made this piece. The women are Syrian and Palestinian refugees who came to Alsama to learn embroidery, and this hoop comes from that training. With every stitch she learns something new, and every piece she finishes brings her closer to steady, paid work with the studio.

Each piece you buy pays for one woman's training. It builds her pathway to an income.

That matters. Jobs for women in Shatila are hard to find. A skill in her hands is something no one can take away. It means income and independence, and a place in a circle of women who hold each other up.

This is the heart of our Joy is Resistance collection. The world told people to fear these women. They sat together and answered with colour. Choosing joy after everything they have lived through is not small. It is resistance.

No two are alike. The photos show three hoops, each one different. That's the point. Each maker chooses how to create with joy and puts her hope into every stitch, so yours will be one of a kind.

When you bring this piece home, you pay for a woman's training and open her path to work. Joy is resistance, and she is living it.

• 20 cm natural wooden hoop, ready to hang
• Hand-embroidered in Shatila, Beirut
• Each piece is unique. The one you receive may differ from the photos.