Made by women of the Amari Women’s Program Center, each silk scrunchie brings traditional Palestinian embroidery into an object designed to be worn and used every day. The softness of the silk sits alongside carefully worked tatreez, allowing a small accessory to carry the presence of a much larger textile tradition.
Available in red, blue, black and fuchsia pink, each colour carries its own embroidered pattern. The black scrunchie features the cypress tree, one of the longstanding motifs found within Palestinian tatreez. Cypress designs appear in different forms across regional embroidery traditions, drawing from the trees, plants, and agricultural landscape that Palestinian women translated into stitch.
The Women’s Program Center was established in 1993 in Amari Refugee Camp, near Ramallah, and is run by women from the community. Its work centres on developing women’s social, cultural, and professional opportunities through vocational training, community programmes, and income-generating projects. Its embroidery workshop was revived with support from Sunbula, helping women develop new products while continuing the knowledge and practice of tatreez.
Amari is home to Palestinian refugee families displaced in 1948 and their descendants, many originally from towns and cities including Lydd, Ramla, and Yaffa. Four generations later, embroidery remains one of the ways knowledge, memory, and cultural identity continue to move between generations.
As each piece is embroidered by hand, slight variations in stitch, placement, and finish are to be expected. These differences are part of its character and reflect the hand of the woman who made it.
Details
Hand-embroidered Palestinian tatreez
Soft silk scrunchie
Each piece may vary slightly due to its handmade nature
Size: 15cm
Colour: Pink
Material: Silk with hand-embroidered tatreez detailing
Origin: Made in Amari Refugee Camp near Ramallah, Palestine, by women of the Amari Women’s Program Center.
Care
Hand wash gently in cool water using a mild detergent suitable for silk. Do not wring or twist. Reshape while damp and dry flat away from direct sunlight. Avoid bleach and tumble drying.
Giving back
This piece supports the embroidery programme of the Amari Women’s Program Center, creating income-generating opportunities for women while continuing the practice and knowledge of Palestinian tatreez.
The Center works within Amari Refugee Camp to develop women’s social, cultural, and professional opportunities through vocational training, community services, and programmes that help create greater economic independence.
By bringing this embroidery into an everyday piece, the work of the women remains connected to a living tradition rather than something preserved only for display, allowing tatreez to continue to be made, worn, and passed forward.
A portion of proceeds is shared with marginalised communities through our ongoing partnership with human rights organisation Restless Beings.
For every order placed, we also plant a tree, contributing to long-term environmental restoration.
