What are the “Itinérance” project’s main initiatives, activities?
Launched in 2018, the project aims to promote crafts and raise awareness of responsible fashion in the Mediterranean. The project’s objective: to provide answers to the economic, social and environmental challenges encountered in the Mediterranean. Itinérance enables the entire production process to be short-circuited, responsible practices to be put in place and the know-how of everyone involved in the design and production process to be put to good use.
Clothing is seen as a tool for social change.
For two years, Alexia Tronel and Caroline Perdix (founders of Atelier Bartavelle in Paris) travelled to 5 countries in the Mediterranean basin to produce 5 limited editions of clothing in collaboration with local actors.
In Greece, a first collection of 13 jumpers knitted by Greek grandmothers (the “yayas”) on the island of Tinos in the Cyclades.
In Tunisia, the “Itinérance” project features 20 unisex shirts embroidered by an association of Berber women in Guermessa, a troglodyte village at the gateway to the desert. The letters of the poem “Les femmes de mon pays” by Mohamed Sghaïer Ouled Ahmed are embroidered using Arabic calligraphy in collaboration with Ali Almasri.
Who does the association work with locally?
Itinérence works with women in order to re-valorise their traditional skills by bringing them into a contemporary context through the creations of Bartavelle Atelier.
The project provides additional income and autonomy for them. It’s an introduction to professional life, while remaining in harmony with their way of life, their social structures and their family obligations.
The project provides additional income and autonomy for them. It’s an introduction to professional life.
The association works also in collaboration with artists such as Ali Almasri, a Jordanian calligrapher based in Tunis, who explores new visual languages with a particular focus on Arabic letters.
With the ITINÉRANCE project, we promote Mediterranean skills such as knitting and embroidery. In 2018, we went to the island of Tinos in the Cyclades to knit jumpers with grandmothers. We wanted to show how skills are passed down from one generation to the next. For the next edition, we went to meet the Berber embroiderers of Guermessa in Tunisia. In this edition, we use clothing as a reminder of the issues surrounding the status of women in Tunisia ».
What is the impact of you project?
Different actions that had been carried out by the Yayas on the island: the creation of an association with the island’s grandmothers, the funding of a medical centre, for example. And above all, a lot of joy and pride for the doyennes.
In Tunisia, through working with women embroiderers from a small village in the south, Guermessa, the project became a way for them to supplement their income and become self-sufficient. It’s an introduction to professional life, but one that remains in harmony with their way of life, their social structure and their family obligations. It’s a “gentle” initiation that goes quickly for some, and even faster for others, depending on their predispositions. Itinérance is an artistic project with a social impact, and clothing becomes a tool for putting it into practice.
How are disseminated the the association’s activities?
Through exhibitions and collaborations with local museums such as the MUCEM in Marseille but also through regular publications on our social media paged dedicated both to the Itinérence association and our mark, the Atelier Bartavelle. Articles are regularly published about the initiative both in local press and in France.
The whole co-creative process with local collaborators is documented using different media: audio podcasts, videos and photos. Then an exhibition is organised first locally, then in France. For example, an exhibition was held in Greece at the Benaki Museum, which is the equivalent of the Mucem in Athens. Then, as part of Galeries Lafayette’s Go For Good operation. In Tunisia, the exhibition was held at the French Institute in Tunis, and then as part of the Paris Good Fashion competition on the gates of the Hôtel de Ville.
Besides exhibitions and collaborations with local museums such as the MUCEM in Marseille the project is also promoted through social media page dedicated both to the Itinérence association and our mark, the Atelier Bartavelle. Articles are also regularly published about the initiative both in local press and in France.
What makes the project innovative and sustainable?
Itinérence is a project that represents both social and ecological engagement.
From a social point of view: The project is aimed at top-of-the-range ready-to-wear brands, asking them to include pieces made by these craftswomen in their products. The association doesn’t take orders. It’s about putting people in touch with legal aid on the spot to help the craftswomen earn a better living and become more structured. The assocaition works on this with the help of the Institut Français de la Mode and, in particular, the students on the Sustainability Certificate – Kering.
From an ecological point of view: Most of the pieces are made by seamstresses from Tunis, and are 100% cotton from the remains of stock material from the souk in the medina of Tunis. Part of the collection was developed within the Bartavelle studio. The rest of the pieces are taekwondo kimonos found in the thrift stores of Tunis. These upcycled pieces echo the key role of Tunisia as a hub for second-hand clothes.
The project has also an educational dimension. For each tour, workshops are held with students from the country in question. The students are the future players in the textile and fashion industries, and it’s important that they are aware of all the issues involved.
How are your activities financed ?
The project is financed through divers partnerships with local and French institutions and foundations.
What are the association’s short and long term objectives (within 2 or 3 years) ?
Continuing in other destinations. To do this, the association monitors sourcing on an ongoing basis, to identify around ten new artisan communities a year in the Mediterranean by mapping out their know-how.
And creating new partnerships, such as the recent Go for Good partnership with Galeries Lafayette, with more to come.
The objective is to create network of craftswomen with a variety of skills (vegetable dyeing, embroidery, knitting, weaving, etc.) while working with major brands on a regular basis, and launching future editions in Albania, Croatia, Italy and Spain. And always with the idea of working with women.
https://itinerance.org
https://www.facebook.com/atelierbartavelleparis
itinerance_mediterranee
https://lesmarseillaises.fr/itinerance-mediterranee/
