At Sunbula, one of our most favorite aspects of working with our artisans is the product development process. This creative stage of craft making is both an exciting and rewarding experience, where we get to brainstorm and exchange bold and colorful design ideas together with artisans and designers, and experiment with creative ideas by leveraging the technical knowledge and skills of our artisans. It is truly satisfying for the whole team when our ideas finally come to life in physical craft form. So we were really excited when we embarked on creating a new collection of baby onesies together with The Oasis Center last fall!
This new collection is a design collaboration between the Oasis staff and Shaden Abed-Elal, a second-year design student and one of Sunbula’s staff members
Inspired by local Palestinian food, popular cultural beliefs, and the region’s beautiful scenery, the baby onesies are adorned with adorable illustrations of the Kunafeh dessert, the evil eye, and the sea of Gaza.
.jpg)
 (1).jpg)
Can you believe it? These illustrations are all designed by young talented Palestinian artists!
We had so much fun printing the designs by hand using the silk-screening method. Silk-screen printing, which can be set up easily with low cost, is an ideal craft technique for small producer groups that have limited resources.
.jpg)
.jpg)
The garments of the baby onesies are sourced from one of the few surviving local textile factories in Bethlehem, and are made from 100% cotton. All in, the Oasis Center and the Subula team could not be happier with the outcome of the joint product development exercise. In fact, the adorable designs of the baby onesies were among our customers’ favorite items when they were unveiled at Sunbula’s Annual Holiday Bazaar in November 2022!
.jpg)
Established in 1998, the Oasis Center integrates persons with mild and moderate disabilities in society through training them on vocational skills that are congruent to their abilities, so as to increase their self-confidence and independence in life.
Located in the town of Beit Sahour in the Bethlehem district of the West Bank, the center is run by a small, but extremely dedicated and passionate team that cares for over 36 individuals with disabilities from families who are struggling to make ends meet as they face challenges in refugee camps, villages, and towns in the West Bank area. The wide array of daily programs at the center, which range from recreational and therapeutic activities, meals, craft-making, to transportation, are all provided free of charge for the center’s beneficiaries. Craft-making as a project provides a sustainable income stream to help fund the Center’s many programs. The product development process is thus a crucial stage of craft-making for the Oasis Center. Not only does it help the Center to generate new innovative ideas on craft-making that could reinvigorate the selection of crafts made available to the public, it offers its beneficiaries a means to express their creative strengths and garner vocational skills that they can apply in other aspects of life. Not only does Sunbula support them in the product development stage, we help to market their products both at our physical shop in Jerusalem and online.
The Oasis Center’s new range of baby onesies will be stocked on our online shop very soon. Sign up for our newsletter, and we’ll update you when they are released in-store!