Our Creative Process
Our Name
BADAN
Badan is a word with Arabic origins that can be defined as "body." It is also often used to describe a thobe's front & back panels.
Literally and figuratively, we are our "badan" and wear our "badan" as part of our thobes. The embroidered tatreez on our garments is inseparable from us as a Palestinian people, and we are inseparable from our homeland, regardless of where we are in the diaspora. It's a beautiful word, and now it has a new third meaning as Badan Collective.
We intentionally consider our name throughout our creative process. With every step, we move as one body of Palestinians to collectively create art that lasts through generations.
Our founder
Bayan
Bayan is the founder and designer behind Badan Collective. She learned tatreez organically through her mother when in 2005 and has been practicing tatreez consistently for 15 years using multiple embroidery techniques and stitches to create traditional Palestinian garments. She founded Badan in 2022 as a tatreez creative design house, business, and educational space through which she is a Tatreez Instructor. Aside from tatreez, she is a writer, poet, and Licensed Social Worker.
In every design, Bayan intentionally fuses together tatreez, history, storytelling, and poetry to create one-of-a-kind pieces that carry meaning.
Our artists
Palestinian Artisans
Once our pieces have been designed, they are then passed onto the most valuable part of this process–Palestinian artisans living within occupied Palestine.
From weaving fabric, to wood-working, to sewing belts, to hand-stitching tatreez items, the Palestinian artisans we work with take time to craft quality items by hand.
Our efforts support local fabric shops, businesses, and individual artisans to share their work at a global scale and make a livable, ethical, and fair market wage for hand-crafted pieces.