Illizi Home is an employment creation program pioneering a new form of ethical design and fair trade. Traditional local skills are combined with contemporary British design to create furniture and home accessories for the international market.
The project is based in Algeria, North Africa and the designers have worked in a variety of materials with local artisans to create a collection of furniture, objects, carpets and textiles.
illizi’s objectives are:
To create employment in Algeria
To create a sustainable income for small artisan enterprises
To help maintain and re-learn traditional artisan skills
To open up new export opportunities
Illizi Home is part of BP’s social investment program in Algeria and is currently supported by both BP and DFID. The purpose of the project is to help create employment and to promote economic growth in the country.
Algeria has a rich heritage of craft making, but in the last 30 years markets for these products, which were once international, have become domesticated and restricted. This has limited the employment opportunities for local people. Illizi Home seeks to support the creation of sustainable employment by helping to recover these international markets. Craftsmen can now use their traditional skills to produce commercial products for export. The project is currently working with seven artisan businesses and around 700 artisans, the vast majority of whom are women.
The project has taken a number of years to establish and has encountered numerous problems along the way including import problems with raw materials and equipment, technical and quality issues, a lack of basic premises and apprentice training.
Illizi Home has donated essential equipment to artisans; a new dyeing facility and looms have been provided, a workshop for basket weavers including another dyeing facility has been restored and air conditioning installed to help cope with the hot Sahara summers. Ceramacists have been equipped with spray booths for glazing and mould and model making equipment and cabinet makers and joiners have been supplied with routers, drills, saws and sanders.
Training has also been required, Illizi has helped to re-instate traditional dyeing techniques and provide apprenticeship training for basket weavers, ceramicists and carpet weavers.
In addition, our designers; Simon Pengelly, Michael Sodeau and Kate Blee, along with other technical experts, have made regular trips to Africa to work side-by-side the craftsmen to help make the transition from producing traditional crafts to making products that are saleable on the international market.
All this has resulted in the various product ranges that you will find within this site, a collection of furniture, objects, carpets and textiles that we hope you will appreciate. We don‚t just want these products to appeal to your conscience, we want them to sell because of their inherently good design and hope that you will recognize and appreciate the quality of the products as well as the ethos behind them.
