Talking Textiles || The Migration Stories

A few weeks ago, I went to an exhibition called 'Talking Textiles', curated by the Dutch trendwatcher Lidewij Edelkoort. It was an exhibition filled with beautiful pieces of furniture, but one in particular caught my eye. Edelkoort talked about it in a video which was shown there and when I did some research afterwards, I genuinely loved it. I was inspired by this one sofa, but now I really love everything that belongs to this serie as well.

It's called 'The Migration Stories', created by BOKJA, a Lebanese designer duo starring Maria Hibri and Hoda Baroudi. It concludes furniture and wallpaper, but I especially love the sofa (which was shown at the exhibition as well).  The sofa (shown above and below) looks like it's packed with blankets, rugs and suitcases. It's all bound together tightly and decorated with different kinds of fabrics and a doodle of a female immigrant.

The designers themselves call the sofa much more than a piece of furniture and I couldn't agree more. It references stories of movement and chance which come from all over the world. It's about immigrants, hoping for a better life in another country. Hoping for peace, hoping for acceptance. Running for war, violence, instability and a world where it's barely possible to live. Talking about immigrants is sensible these days. For years, many countries have admitted immigrants to stay, but now, countries are getting crowded and governments are looking for reasons for not letting in immigrants anymore.

Still, immigrants are human beings and deserve a place to stay as well. BOKJA's blog explains it perfectly: "The Migration Stories reflects the hopes and fears of all people, especially the young, who make the brave decision to create a home of their own far from their family or the place where they were born". Their stories need to be told, because everybody deserves a world where it feels like home.

Visit BOKJA's blog as well.

(Photographs: BOKJA)