In June 2023 FairTrade Designers travelled to Bethlehem at the West Bank, Palestinian territorie to cooperate with Bethlehem Fair Trade Artisans, BFTA and work with local artisans. The project is financed by the German Agency for International Cooperation, GIZ.
Prior to the trip there had been a long series of online meetings and email dialog with the aim of getting a better understanding of how BFTA works and deciding which artisans we should collaborate with and which methods were best suited to our collaboration.
On location in Bethlehem the project was centered in the Craft Village and hosted by BFTA. We gathered the 8 participating artisans in the Craft Village and FTD held presentations about market trends in the relevant areas and gave talks about the green transition that is also underway in the EU. Also we facilitated co-design workshops and unfolded the design proposal we had brought, showing drawings and models of the new designs to start a dialog with the artisan on how to finalize the designs.
After this startup of the project in the Craft Village the work was moved into to artisans workshop and from here focused on developing prototypes. The design team with assistance from BFTA visited all artisans workshops to discus and supervise the prototypes of the new designs.
After this startup of the project in the Craft Village the work was moved into to artisans workshop and from here focused on developing prototypes. The design team with assistance from BFTA visited all artisans workshops to discus and supervise the prototypes of the new designs.
FairTrade Designers 