Stitch Sainte Luce
ABOUT
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Stitch Sainte Luce is an ethical embroidery cooperative based Sainte Luce in rural South East Madagascar. The project aims to empower women in rural communities by building a business cooperative to improve the quality and sustainability of life in one of the poorest regions of the world. Since Stitch began in 2012, the cooperative has grown from 9 women to over 120.
The community of Saint Luce is a 2-hour drive in a 4x4 to the nearest big town of Fort Dauphin.Because of its remoteness, there are limited economic opportunities for people in the area. Stitch offers women a way to supplement their income while also meeting their day-to-day responsibilities. As there is no electricity in Sainte Luce, the embroiders are limited to daylight hours for completing the embroidery.
PRODUCT & DESIGN
Each handmade piece is unique and reflects the individual creativity of the artist. The designs are inspired by natural elements in their environment and incorporate bright and bold colors and patterns. Each piece is hand sewn and hand-embroidered using locally-purchased threads and recycled fabric and features the hand-stitched name of both the project and the embroiderer.
IMPACT
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1500 community members (18% of population) are supported by the income generated by Stitch enabling participants to buy food for their families and pay for their children’s education.
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More than half of the participants make more than their monthly household expenditure from their embroidery work.
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The Stitch studio has become an important gathering place for women in the community.
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New future training opportunities for artisans include English language, business and sales, product development.
