Tileagd Craft Project
Flowers of Tileagd
Romania

Aurica, Viorica, Cornelia, Marcela, Livia…….women from the Roma Village in Tileagd, all wanting to work. If they have sufficient work they can stop begging, they can gain self - respect, they may be able to say:

Man falma mişto că som rom.
(Ciurari, a dialect of Kalderash.)
‘I am proud to be Rom’

These women were embroidering on to hemp, which was largely grown, spun and woven in Romanian homes on a wooden loom during the communist period – a unique product.

Tarzan,   Constantine, Cornelia with Margareta and Zalina in 2006

( It was Cornelia who taught us how to embroider our Romanian Couching stitch which has come to be called our Gypsy stitch – the filler for all our flowers).

“The Flowers of Tileagd” started in October 2005 with little scraps of cloth, which were turned into greetings cards.  It was a struggle because the work was not as it is now!  We still have cards to sell but we also have cushion covers, many different bags, covered books, and spectacle cases…  These women no longer think they can do nothing.  Their work is beautiful.

In 2013 we found the traditional hemp more difficult to find and so we began using wool.  We wash the wool in the river, card it, hand spin it, sometimes dye it with wild plants and fruits and then make rugs, bags and slippers.  We also make our own material from donated wool from England weaving it on our own loom.

When you buy from the Tileagd Craft Project you help us bring change into the lives of Claudia, Margareta, Leonora, Ana...