Continuing my knitwear series inspired by the folk art and traditional crafts of my familial heritage, I celebrate my grandmother and her Jewish Ethiopian roots. Below are a few fragments of initial inspiration:
1. Swatch for a shawl inspired by one belonging to my grandmother. Design inspired by Ethiopian embroidery motifs.
2. Photo of an Ethiopian Jewish woman wearing beautiful embroidered dress, taken from The Ethiopian Jewry Heritage Center website, 1962-64.
3. Swatch inspired by traditional Ethiopian embroidery, Merino and Shetland wool.
4. Photo of my beautiful grandmother, Rachel, in white 🤍
5. Hand-embroidered Ethiopian textile belonging to my aunt.
6. Ethiopian Jewish woman wearing dress with star of David embroidery, source unknown.
Current inspiration:
1 - my grandmother’s silver necklace (brought with her from Ethiopia)
2 - textiles that my aunt bought during a visit to Ethiopia years ago
3- photo of my grandmother
My inspiration for the Lahfe Jacket, a new work in progress, exploring my Jewish-Yemenite roots. This piece marks the beginning of a series of knitwear inspired by the folk art of my family heritage. I chose to start with Yemen after recently beginning to study traditional Yemenite silversmithing with the brilliant @razakta_ , where he introduced me to a rich world of embroidery and textiles that illuminate the Jewish-Yemenite culture of my paternal grandfather.
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1. My swatch for the Lahfe Jacket, inspired by the traditional Jewish-Yemenite Lahfe textile.
2. A young Jewish woman wearing the Lahfe scarf in Yemen (source unknown - if you find the photographer please let me know.)
3. A photo I took of a Lahfe scarf, part of the personal collection of @razakta_ .
4. A photo of a Jewish family in Yemen, the women wearing the Lahfe scarf over a Gargush, a traditional Jewish Yemenite headdress - taken from the book ״Work of an Embroiderer” by Carmella Abdar.
5. A photo of my parents at their Henna (Jewish-Yemenite wedding).
6. My first hand-made traditional Yemenite ring (before polishing) from my silversmithing classes with Raz.
7. My grandfather, Seadia ❦
When my grandfather passed away in 2020, I kept a few pieces of his clothing as mementos. One of them was his favorite (and only) cashmere sweater — the one he reserved for special occasions. For the past five years it’s been folded neatly on my shelf, far too big for me to wear.
A few months ago, I came across a video about unraveling second-hand or vintage sweaters. Immediately, I thought of my grandfather’s sweater — I wanted to give it a new life and be able to wear and cherish it myself. It took me a while to gather the courage to take it apart (a nerve-wracking experience), but now I have some beautiful cashmere yarn waiting to be knit up into something special.
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I haven’t decided whether to use a pattern or design something myself, but I’m leaning toward making a sweater or cardigan with cables as an homage to the original piece.
