Ramz Embroidery: Combining heritage and fashion with just a needle
By Huda Dabeet, Jordan News
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AMMAN – Jordanian and Palestinian heritage is lives on a local brand called
Ramz Embroidery. The collection turns Palestinian motifs and symbols into
powerful statements.اضافة اعلان
“We never had the intention for this brand to be a political, in fact we saw it as pure fashion. However we realized that this is impossible with the political situation, and we are happy about our new role, which is to represent our culture and to use our brand as a tool to assert our culture and battered identity.” Lara Nabulsi, a designer and founder of Ramz Embroidery, said in an interview with Jordan News.
Nabulsi said that she hopes her collection becomes identified with by the way it merges traditional heritage with modern aspects.
The story
Ramz means “symbol,” and symbols are little motifs with big meanings. “Palestinian embroidery motifs have come to stand for resistance and persistence and defying ongoing attempts to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians by wiping out their identity, culture, and heritage.” Nabulsi explained.
Nabulsi attended the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York, before opening a short-lived store in the city. The store gave her confidence in her work, which she described as “clothing I would want to wear”.
A collection of pieces from Ramz Embroidery. Lara Nabulsi, the founder, uses traditional Palestinian and Jordanian needlework to create pieces that aim to make a statement. (Photos: Handouts from Ramz Embroidery)
She added that her clothing reflected her appreciation for ethnic designs as well as her love for modern minimalist aesthetics. “I moved to Jordan only since I got married 13 years ago. After having four kids I just had to go back to designing. I discovered that I had at the tip of my fingers access to talented artisans.”
The idea of Ramz Embroidery was founded in 2019, according to Nabulsi. “My sister is my partner in this project, she has been my biggest support. Moreover, I don’t think the project would have materialized otherwise. I am the designer but she helps with everything else.”
Bringing back the glory
Palestinian and Jordanian heritage is alive through the embroidered hoodies, T-shirts, raglans, and more in Nabulsi’s collection. Ramz Embroidery uses Jordanian and Palestinian patterns and stitching techniques.
Each embroidered product reflects a Palestinian city, which is an important symbol of Palestinian culture.
“The most interesting thing about creating fashion designs is to find the balance between what is interesting and what is wearable. For a piece to be successful it has to be both.” Nabulsi said.
“Merging traditional and modern is my love and talent. So it just feels natural to me, it is actually my passion. I can spend hours not realizing it. Merging any two concepts is always interesting because that’s how you get new breeds of anything, new visions, and new results. I find that's the easiest way to design,” the founder said.
Moreover, stitching is one element and aspect of our tradition and heritage that Ramz Embroidery reflects.
A collection of pieces from Ramz Embroidery. Lara Nabulsi, the founder, uses traditional Palestinian and Jordanian needlework to create pieces that aim to make a statement. (Photos: Handouts from Ramz Embroidery)
The designer said that she enjoys using embroidery on simple silhouettes, because traditional embroidery is so dense, and she prefers it to be the focal point the majority of the time. “I realized that people are craving to see traditional embroidery implemented in modern wearable fashion,” she said.
Collaborating with local communities
The company combines local needlework with modern pieces by collaborating with women in different communities such as Ghor Al-Safi, Marka, Nour, and Jerash, in order to ethically make products. The founder partnered with local artisans and embroidery experts to design a collection of handcrafted clothing using traditional techniques.
Nabulsi added that Ramz Embroidery tries to raise community awareness and give back, “by allowing women to work from the comfort of their own homes. We have a wonderful group of working ladies from a number of areas inside the Kingdom.”
A collection of pieces from Ramz Embroidery. Lara Nabulsi, the founder, uses traditional Palestinian and Jordanian needlework to create pieces that aim to make a statement. (Photos: Handouts from Ramz Embroidery)
Each sale has a direct impact on each artisan, who are adequately compensated, Nabulsi said.
“Ramz Embroidery has approximately six groups of women, and each group has a woman that is in charge of receiving the embroideries, and distributing the work to other artisans,” she said.
Additionally, Nabulsi mentioned that in the COVID-19 pandemic, and during the 2020 lockdown, the women continued working from their homes, which means that the lockdown did not affect them as much as other industries.
Products and collections
“My greatest collection is the first shirt collection, and I received a lot of positive feedback.” The designer said. “People found that shirts are more practical and worth the investment.”
Nabulsi mentioned that she like clothes to be comfortable and classic at the same time, “My fashion is simple and wearable.”
Ramz Embroidery has a wide range of women’s apparel, such as shirts, polos, T-shirts, raglans, training sets, hoodies, and more.
“My favorite part is the actual designing, and of course getting the positive feedback by people actually choosing to purchase my designs always feels great,” Nabulsi said.
A collection of pieces from Ramz Embroidery. Lara Nabulsi, the founder, uses traditional Palestinian and Jordanian needlework to create pieces that aim to make a statement. (Photos: Handouts from Ramz Embroidery)
“Hand embroidery is a luxury, and there is so much value in each piece,” Nabulsi said, adding that hand embroidery is slow fashion, and that people have just realized the true worth of slow fashion and handcrafted items.
She added that the feeling of wearing hand-embroidered clothes is different than wearing machine-embroidered clothing, because it’s “something with soul. It feels and looks different, with a personal touch.”
The designer added that local embroidery is well-documented, especially Palestinian embroidery by places such as Widad Kawar, a local museum in Amman.
Furthermore, the designer told Jordan News that all her work is handmade and they do not use machines or technology. “I simply made a paper copy of the motifs and shuffled them around till I found the right placement. I also divided the motifs into different elements and began to arrange them in an aesthetic way,” she said.
Each piece is also hand-dyed using natural organic pigments taken from native plants, making each piece genuinely one-of-a-kind.
‘Social media is magic’
For Ramz Embroidery social media was everything, the founder said that they started with close to zero investment, adding that with social media anyone can show and sell their products, and get feedback from people, without the need to hire people or create showrooms or stores. “For fashion, social media is magic.” Nabulsi said.
Continuously, the founder mentioned that she has unlimited ideas to expand her business, adding that the field of hand embroidery is wide. Ramz Embroidery plans on creating men’s line and accessories.
According to Nabulsi, Ramz Embroidery’s pieces don’t expire with the season, giving the brand a huge advantage. “My designs do not expire, just as heritage and culture do not expire,” she said. “I can still benefit from a design that I made two years ago till today.”
“People's feedback has been completely different than what I thought it would be,” Nabulsi said. “People nowadays are craving a cultural aesthetic. In addition, the brand has transformed from being neutral to being charged.”
Read more Culture and Arts
“We never had the intention for this brand to be a political, in fact we saw it as pure fashion. However we realized that this is impossible with the political situation, and we are happy about our new role, which is to represent our culture and to use our brand as a tool to assert our culture and battered identity.” Lara Nabulsi, a designer and founder of Ramz Embroidery, said in an interview with Jordan News.
Nabulsi said that she hopes her collection becomes identified with by the way it merges traditional heritage with modern aspects.
The story
Ramz means “symbol,” and symbols are little motifs with big meanings. “Palestinian embroidery motifs have come to stand for resistance and persistence and defying ongoing attempts to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians by wiping out their identity, culture, and heritage.” Nabulsi explained.
Nabulsi attended the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York, before opening a short-lived store in the city. The store gave her confidence in her work, which she described as “clothing I would want to wear”.
A collection of pieces from Ramz Embroidery. Lara Nabulsi, the founder, uses traditional Palestinian and Jordanian needlework to create pieces that aim to make a statement. (Photos: Handouts from Ramz Embroidery)
She added that her clothing reflected her appreciation for ethnic designs as well as her love for modern minimalist aesthetics. “I moved to Jordan only since I got married 13 years ago. After having four kids I just had to go back to designing. I discovered that I had at the tip of my fingers access to talented artisans.”
The idea of Ramz Embroidery was founded in 2019, according to Nabulsi. “My sister is my partner in this project, she has been my biggest support. Moreover, I don’t think the project would have materialized otherwise. I am the designer but she helps with everything else.”
Bringing back the glory
Palestinian and Jordanian heritage is alive through the embroidered hoodies, T-shirts, raglans, and more in Nabulsi’s collection. Ramz Embroidery uses Jordanian and Palestinian patterns and stitching techniques.
Each embroidered product reflects a Palestinian city, which is an important symbol of Palestinian culture.
“The most interesting thing about creating fashion designs is to find the balance between what is interesting and what is wearable. For a piece to be successful it has to be both.” Nabulsi said.
“Merging traditional and modern is my love and talent. So it just feels natural to me, it is actually my passion. I can spend hours not realizing it. Merging any two concepts is always interesting because that’s how you get new breeds of anything, new visions, and new results. I find that's the easiest way to design,” the founder said.
Moreover, stitching is one element and aspect of our tradition and heritage that Ramz Embroidery reflects.
A collection of pieces from Ramz Embroidery. Lara Nabulsi, the founder, uses traditional Palestinian and Jordanian needlework to create pieces that aim to make a statement. (Photos: Handouts from Ramz Embroidery)
The designer said that she enjoys using embroidery on simple silhouettes, because traditional embroidery is so dense, and she prefers it to be the focal point the majority of the time. “I realized that people are craving to see traditional embroidery implemented in modern wearable fashion,” she said.
Collaborating with local communities
The company combines local needlework with modern pieces by collaborating with women in different communities such as Ghor Al-Safi, Marka, Nour, and Jerash, in order to ethically make products. The founder partnered with local artisans and embroidery experts to design a collection of handcrafted clothing using traditional techniques.
Nabulsi added that Ramz Embroidery tries to raise community awareness and give back, “by allowing women to work from the comfort of their own homes. We have a wonderful group of working ladies from a number of areas inside the Kingdom.”
A collection of pieces from Ramz Embroidery. Lara Nabulsi, the founder, uses traditional Palestinian and Jordanian needlework to create pieces that aim to make a statement. (Photos: Handouts from Ramz Embroidery)
Each sale has a direct impact on each artisan, who are adequately compensated, Nabulsi said.
“Ramz Embroidery has approximately six groups of women, and each group has a woman that is in charge of receiving the embroideries, and distributing the work to other artisans,” she said.
Additionally, Nabulsi mentioned that in the COVID-19 pandemic, and during the 2020 lockdown, the women continued working from their homes, which means that the lockdown did not affect them as much as other industries.
Products and collections
“My greatest collection is the first shirt collection, and I received a lot of positive feedback.” The designer said. “People found that shirts are more practical and worth the investment.”
Nabulsi mentioned that she like clothes to be comfortable and classic at the same time, “My fashion is simple and wearable.”
Ramz Embroidery has a wide range of women’s apparel, such as shirts, polos, T-shirts, raglans, training sets, hoodies, and more.
“My favorite part is the actual designing, and of course getting the positive feedback by people actually choosing to purchase my designs always feels great,” Nabulsi said.
A collection of pieces from Ramz Embroidery. Lara Nabulsi, the founder, uses traditional Palestinian and Jordanian needlework to create pieces that aim to make a statement. (Photos: Handouts from Ramz Embroidery)
“Hand embroidery is a luxury, and there is so much value in each piece,” Nabulsi said, adding that hand embroidery is slow fashion, and that people have just realized the true worth of slow fashion and handcrafted items.
She added that the feeling of wearing hand-embroidered clothes is different than wearing machine-embroidered clothing, because it’s “something with soul. It feels and looks different, with a personal touch.”
The designer added that local embroidery is well-documented, especially Palestinian embroidery by places such as Widad Kawar, a local museum in Amman.
Furthermore, the designer told Jordan News that all her work is handmade and they do not use machines or technology. “I simply made a paper copy of the motifs and shuffled them around till I found the right placement. I also divided the motifs into different elements and began to arrange them in an aesthetic way,” she said.
Each piece is also hand-dyed using natural organic pigments taken from native plants, making each piece genuinely one-of-a-kind.
‘Social media is magic’
For Ramz Embroidery social media was everything, the founder said that they started with close to zero investment, adding that with social media anyone can show and sell their products, and get feedback from people, without the need to hire people or create showrooms or stores. “For fashion, social media is magic.” Nabulsi said.
Continuously, the founder mentioned that she has unlimited ideas to expand her business, adding that the field of hand embroidery is wide. Ramz Embroidery plans on creating men’s line and accessories.
According to Nabulsi, Ramz Embroidery’s pieces don’t expire with the season, giving the brand a huge advantage. “My designs do not expire, just as heritage and culture do not expire,” she said. “I can still benefit from a design that I made two years ago till today.”
“People's feedback has been completely different than what I thought it would be,” Nabulsi said. “People nowadays are craving a cultural aesthetic. In addition, the brand has transformed from being neutral to being charged.”
Read more Culture and Arts
