S7E1. Season 7 Kick Off!

Hi, stitchers! This is very exciting. Welcome to Tatreez Talk, where we share conversations about Palestinian embroidery. Uh, things are a little bit new because if you are watching on YouTube, then you can see us both in full video, and we will be moving forward with video, which is very exciting. And doing cool stuff like this.

Hold on. Ooh, so fancy. Oh my goodness.

Well, we are so excited to be back. It has been a minute. And Amani, I'm so excited. We've got a long lineup of incredible guests coming soon to this, to the podcast. And we are very excited to be launching a variety of new things this season.

So I mean, what do we, what do we tackle first? I know we, I know we're due for a catch-up in general, but do we talk about the Please Talk things first, or, um, actually I think we should. Let's talk about the Please Talk stuff because there's been a lot going on. I think last season we had a very short last season, um, just because both of our schedules were kind of crazy, um, and we've been working on some stuff behind the scenes, um, so I think we can start sharing some of that. Um, do you want to talk about the website first?

Yes. One of our dear, dear listeners reached out offering to support with website development. And we were like, yes, please. Because I did figure out a vibe code, but I am not that good with website development. So we have been working over the last, like, what, 2 months?

Like, very nice, slow and steady pace. But we have officially a brand new website, fully branded. Did we talk about the new branding? Right. Already?

Um, yes, we did, we did. Okay, well, now the website actually is our brand. Um, so that's very exciting. So if you go to tatueristalk.com, feel free to hit pause and go check it out, but come back. Um, it looks really beautiful, and we have very big dreams for this website.

So we have just launched phase 1. There are a few things in the, in the works, uh, for phases 2 and potentially 3. Yes, it's really exciting, and obviously we want to hear your feedback. We still have a lot of ideas, as Lina literally just said. That we're going to be rolling out eventually.

But in the meantime, as you're exploring the website, definitely give us your feedback because ultimately all of this stuff that we create is for the community. So we want to make sure that it's something that you guys are enjoying using. And again, if there's feedback that where we, where we can improve things, we would love to hear that. So yeah, thank you so so much, um, for listening to us for this long that we're like, even at this point where we're like, okay, let's build a website where it could be like a community hub for Latrines. Um, so yeah, this is exciting, I think, for both of us.

Yeah. Do you have a favorite part of the new website? Oh, um, well, I think for phase— the next phase, yes. I don't want to share it. There's like something that's like really cool for the next phase.

I can't share that yet, but I think for now, honestly, it's the way that you can kind of search for episodes. I think that's really great. It gives users an experience. They can kind of find episodes that they may have not listened to in the past or maybe even like, I guess, re-listen to an old episode that might spark something new. So I think that is really cool, the episode guides.

Yeah, I think that's the same thing for me. So for those who are listening, you'll be able to search by any keyword in the titles or the guest names. But you can also, we've categorized, we've themed every single episode. So if there are particular themes that you're curious about, you can filter by that. And we've also tagged them by location.

So if you are someone who is based someplace and you want to find out if there's someone who has been featured on the podcast local to you, you can actually search for at least by country. So if you are based in the UAE, you can find whoever we featured who's based in the UAE as well. And that potentially could mean that there's a teacher or a Tatreez Circle host near you that you could potentially join. Like, that was kind of the reason behind tagging them. And I think that's probably my favorite, especially for people who are new to the podcast and just want to dive deep and make it as personalized as they can.

So I think that's very exciting. Yeah. And there's a lot. A lot that we're working on too, continuing. Definitely.

And honestly, the, the new branding like really coming through, um, on the website is fun to see. Yeah. Oh, so good, so good. And then are we teasing anything else for this season or not yet? I don't know.

Do you want to tease anything?

I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I think that people should— I think we can tease. I'm trying. I'm like using my— I know, through my words.

We'll definitely announce something exciting about this season coming up. So definitely give us a couple of weeks, maybe sooner rather than later. But we'll be announcing something really exciting that we've been talking about for a while. And I think we'll open up some more opportunities for storytelling. Is that a good way of— Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

Yeah, so you're just gonna have to wait and stay tuned. It won't be very long. We already have things kind of scheduled and ready to go, so, um, just be a little bit patient with us and bear with us a little bit longer. Yeah, definitely, definitely. Okay, anything else we should share with, with the, with the class?

I think those are the big ones. Um, you know, as we enter the new season, would love to hear from our audience. You know, it's, it's we've taken kind of a little bit of a summer break, I guess. Um, you know, what are you most excited about? Let us know.

Reach out to us. Uh, send us your requests. We have— oh, on the website, you can now send a request for us for a guest. So you could nominate someone or yourself to become a guest, and we will definitely get on that. Um, so if there are people that you want us to interview or feature, please let us know.

If there are things you want to see, topics you want to hear about, um, let us know. But Yeah, I think, I think it's time to, yeah, just have like this next season come through. Very exciting. Yeah. And honestly, like, please, please, please let us know who you want us to chat with.

I think we've said this before, but just to reiterate, we don't necessarily care about people having a large following, um, or even having some kind of social media presence to be on the podcast. What's important to us is to share stories from Palestinians and their personal connections to Tatweez. That's really what it comes down to. So if there's somebody that you know in your own personal life, or somebody that, I don't know, you have come across on social media or on the internet or in real life, like whatever it might be, definitely let us know because Our goal is to always capture stories from Palestinians and making sure that Palestinians are the ones capturing those stories as well. Yeah, I know that every time, every time like we're sending messages to each other on Instagram, it's always like, look at what this person's doing and look at what this person's doing.

And it doesn't necessarily mean like their whole account is dedicated to tatreez. Like sometimes it's just people living their lives and they add a little bit of tatreez into one way, in like one small way. But that small way is so exciting and innovative and really beautiful. And I remember you telling me, you're like, our community is so talented. So talented.

We just want the world to see that. We want all of us to kind of experience everything that we're seeing. So hopefully the podcast is one avenue for elevating some of those stories and also seeing a little bit more that's not so superficial. Social media is very surface level. You're never going to get that much depth from it, but it can be an introduction, and then the podcast can be a way to get to know each other better and find commonality between all of us.

I mean, that's been the best part of the podcast is just talking to all these incredible people, and we actually have so much in common. Yes. Even if it doesn't look like that on the outside. Yes, definitely. So that is what's going on with the Threes Talk.

A lot of stuff. A lot of stuff we're excited to share with you all soon. Um, but in the meantime, you know what's been going on with you in the meantime? Well, I've also, also been having like a slow summer just in general. Um, my video editor Nour got married in June.

Yeah, so excited.

Exactly. Uh, and she's so beautiful and I love her. And, um, so I think that also kind of helped set us up for a little bit of a slower summer. So we've been taking a little bit of time off from YouTube, which is totally fine. And it's gotten me to also kind of reflect on all the things that I'm doing.

And one of the things that I've decided to do is migrate off of a tool that I've been using to host both my course and my community, which is called Mighty Networks. It just didn't feel like it was worth the money that I was paying for this tool. So we have this as of this week when I'm recording, we're going to be migrating off the tool and I'm going to be kind of simplifying a lot of the things. Which is very exciting actually. It feels good.

It feels like this is the right— it served its purpose and now it's time to think a little bit bigger and think about the next step. And then other than that, the one thing that I have been really exploring is the Talkerise design tool. So I talked about it. I don't know if we spoke about— I don't think I spoke about it on the podcast, but I've obviously been very loud about it otherwise. So if you're on my email list, if you're on my socials, you'll know that I've been learning how to vibe code and figured out how to create like a very basic version of a design tool that I would've wanted years ago.

And I realized very quickly that the vibe coding is really good for kind of getting the vision out there and having other people understand kind of what I'm imagining and the type of experience that I would want. But past that, really, you need someone with the expertise. And so I'm so happy to be partnering with Apricot and a mentorship program that they are hosting alongside a charity called Hands for Charity, I believe. And so I have a developer based based in Gaza. Her name is Ilham.

So I love that I have like an all-woman team from Gaza supporting all the work that we're doing with Tatreez. And she is basically making it so much more, so much more usable, so much better. And she's got a mentor. We've got a mentor based in Tunisia. I have my own mentor based in Spain.

Both are Arab, originally Palestinian and Tunisian. And we are working hard on getting this tool in a good enough place for other people to use it. So I've also got big visions for that. So more to come. Probably maybe do an episode about the Taltree design tool when it's ready to be launched into the world.

But for now, we're just kind of hustling behind the scenes and getting things done. And yeah, that's pretty much been my summer. I've honestly, the one thing I'm kind of sad about this summer is I feel like I lost Taltree's drive or— No. Yeah. All the projects I have going on are not exciting me.

I have this yellow t-shirt that I've been working on for 9 months and I just don't feel like finishing it. I don't know. I think I need to do a small project, a small win to help me get more excited. But I'm hoping the next couple of weeks also, I think as we start recording these podcast episodes, I have a feeling I'm going to be very inspired. So that's been the only downside of the summer.

But yeah. Okay, well, I hope you get back to some stitching soon. Yeah, I'm, I'm overdue for sure, for sure. Yeah. Um, I— girl, me, I've been busy.

I know, I've been so busy. I'm exhausted. Um, but alhamdulillah. Um, but I'm busy. Um, I just came back a few weeks ago from Oaxaca, Mexico.

Um, I— so back in Feb— no, March, back in March, I did a virtual talk through the museum, the textile museum in Oaxaca, and I was connected to them through the Palestinian Embassy, which I taught a class at in December. So, you know, all these like Palestinian spider webs. So they are the— and I say they— the Textile Museum in Oaxaca. They are doing a partnership with the Palestine Museum in Birzeit, and they're doing an exhibition right now at the museum in Oaxaca, and they are doing a project where their embroiderers in Oaxaca are embroidering some beautiful pieces, and there are embroiderers through the Palestine Museum that are embroidering some pieces, and they are going to swap those pieces and have them displayed at the respective museums, which is really cool. They, again, they, the Textile Museum in Oaxaca, invited me to come and teach some tatriz there.

So I was there for the week. I taught Tatriz 101, and I also taught photo tatriz to some more experienced embroidery artists there. And it was just amazing experience. First of all, Oaxaca is such a beautiful city. I barely got to explore it because I was there kind of just working all day.

And so I was really busy. But what I did get to explore was amazing. The food. Oh, yum. So good.

So good. Everything was great. I cannot wait to go back to Oaxaca. Highly recommend if you are a textile nerd. And obviously, if you're listening to this, you probably are.

It's just an amazing place to go to. There is so much traditional embroidery that can be seen, and I'm having conversations with the museum about going back, so stay tuned for what that could look like, hint hint. But yeah, it was just, it was great, I loved it, I got to meet so many amazing people, and at the end of the week after my classes, I did a talk on tatris now and then, kind of tatris's roles in community and resistance, and really kind of that combination, or I should say the synergies between Palestinian tatris and the traditional indigenous embroidery practices of Oaxaca. The full speech, talk, whatever you want to call it, is available on YouTube through the Museum of Textile in Oaxaca. So check that out.

But that was really cool. Wait, wait, tell, tell us a little bit more. Give us some, like, I don't know, things that stuck out to you or stayed with you from, from that.

Introducing the drop that nobody asked for: Resolute RGL. The sneaker that takes centuries of Palestinian resistance and sells it back to you in leather. Co-founder Yossi Levin calls it empowerment. We call it exploitation. Same guy who once erased Palestinians from his projects in Haifa, now stitching tatreez into a shoe to build his quote-unquote multi-million-dollar brand.

They say it's bridging local and global, Translation: Palestinian women stitch, Europe profits, Israel wins. Limited edition, unlimited hypocrisy. Don't buy the hype, boycott Resolute RGL. This anti-ad was produced by Tatreez Talk. We stitch, we talk, we boycott.

So I think some of the really cool things were, especially when I was working or talking directly to the more experienced embroidery artists were the synergies. So for example, like when we talk about motifs, we have the Star of Bethlehem, or it's, you know, the star motif. Every region has an iteration of the same exact, like, Star of Bethlehem motif, right? But that to us represents a star. And one of the embroidery artists was showing me that same motif in her work.

And for her and where she's from, it represents flowers. And, you know, we use a lot of florals in our embroidery, and oftentimes those represent not just what people saw on a daily basis, but kind of like, you know, when we look at the deeper meaning of fertility and life and joy. And it has similarities to the meaning for a lot of these embroidery artists and their regional, their regional art. So that was something that was really cool. You know, as we were kind of like looking at things.

And then I think the other thing, especially like specific to like my talk, and like as I was kind of reflecting on like what I wanted to talk about and how I'm obviously there to talk about Palestinian tatris, but it's also a region that is rich in their own embroidery traditions, and they face a lot of the same issues that Palestinian tatris faces, right? Cultural appropriation, the devaluing of the work, especially because it's women's work, the mass production of the work, you know, all of those kind of touchpoints. Again, there's that synergy. So I think for me, that's something that really stood out throughout the entire experience. And, you know, I teach a lot of tatreez classes.

Oftentimes they're like Tatreez 101 classes, and people are always very appreciative and enjoy the classes, but there's something different about teaching very experienced embroidery artists who have a very deep tradition of their own. One of the embroidery artists, she kept showing me pictures of dresses that she makes, you know, her kind of ceremonial traditional dresses that she hand embroiders, and she was like, oh, pick one, I'll bring one for you to try on. And I was like, oh my God, they're all so beautiful. You know, I just thought she was like being polite. I, you know, and I just kept telling her that they're all beautiful because they were.

Um, but she wound up on the last day of class bringing the dress, bringing the jewelry, um, that her husband designs, and had me model and dress up, um, in the clothing. It was so beautiful. Um, it took her 8 months to hand embroider. Um, and actually, you know what, another interesting thing, so I put posted the pictures on, or I did like a little video on my Instagram. But one of the things that was so interesting is the necklaces were very reminiscent of like the very like the big coin Falahi necklaces that you see in Palestine.

And yeah, it was just like, oh, I kept saying, I was like, oh, this like looks so similar to like the stuff that we wear. So it was just a cool, amazing experience overall. 10 out of 10, recommend. Yeah. Oh, so beautiful.

I love it. Yeah. Yeah. So that was really cool and fun. And then something I have been working on for a freaking year now.

I've been working on it forever. You know, we'll share a little bit more later. And by the time this comes out, This will have launched, but drum roll.

I I am launching my first Tatris fashion collection. Not as good as you at the Zeruta. Yeah, I'll do it. Exactly. I love it.

Yeah, no, I'm really excited to share more. But what I will say. Is that this has been a labor of love. It's been a long time coming. I've already learned so much from the first go-around.

I'm already working on round 2, and I've taken away so many learnings. I'm excited to hear everyone's feedback. I— this is actually one of those things where I do want to hear people's feedback. Be nice though. Don't be mean.

And I You know, I started this about a year ago at this point, and it was an idea that evolved into something bigger. And like I said, it's a starting point, but I'm excited to see where it goes. Everything is all hand embroidered. It's all made to order, and it's all being hand embroidered by Palestinian women refugees in Jordan. I am partnering with Dhira on the embroidery.

So we know that these women are being paid an appropriate wage. And so I'm just excited to hear what everyone has to think or has to say. And yeah, I just can't wait to share. We'll talk more on a separate episode. Absolutely.

But I'm excited to finally share it with the world. Yeah, and I can just say I've had a little bit of a sneak preview, and it's a collection very much Imani.

That's what I'll say, and I think a lot of people know what that means. It is very Imani. I think the next one will be even more Imani, so we'll see. Yeah, so exciting. I love it.

Yeah, and then I'm working on like a little digital project that I will share a little bit more about later, but it kind of taps into my obsessiveness. You guys know how obsessive I am when I'm stitching, um, and I'm kind of working on a digital manifestation of what that looks like. That's the best way I could describe it now, but, um, I'll have more to share when I have more to share. Boom. You know, I feel like this is the summer that a lot of people are creating like new things in the world.

I'm like thinking about our girl Paige. Yes. I don't know, I feel like there's a lot of good energy and like innovation and new things kind of coming this summer, which is— it's gonna make the fall, I think, very interesting. Yeah, and like you saw Bisann from TOB now, our friend Bisann is launching a children's TOB book later this year. There's been some new, um, or tatreez books from Palestinians that have come out.

So it's just, it's nice to see this abundance of tatreez in the world. Yeah, totally. So exciting. Yes. Yeah.

So, you know, we have some cool things in the works. We want to hear from you guys what you're excited about. Um, we are going to be having a lot of amazing, um, guests this season, so stay tuned. Um, we have some treats to share with you guys as we, uh, go along the season as well. Um, but for now, check out the website, let us know what you think, and as always, let us know who you want us to talk to, um, on the talk because again, this is really for the community.

So we want to make sure that we're talking to the people you want to hear from. Yay! So exciting. Cool. All right, well, we'll talk to you all soon.

Bloopers.