Creative collaborations

“Limited Luxury for Limited Waste”

In the Brand's view, luxury is also defined by the time and technique found in each local product, the love and care, and sense of innovation in each stitch of fabric or hand-woven knot seen in a basket, ceramics or leather goods.

In all her global travels, Amal was delighted to witness artisans who continue to employ and pay homage to their own traditions of exquisite luxury craftsmanship, inspired designs and breathtaking touches of contemporary innovation.

The impeccable care and time taken in producing even a single product is a reflection of the creative commitment to expand their business as well as the devotion to preserve their history, heritage and local environment.

Working in the sphere of international development afforded Amal the opportunity to meet artisans and local designers who were wholly devoted to advancing the lives of their local communities.

Such development and humanitarian programmes garnered her professional support for displaced populations in a number of African countries, populations affected by HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, women and girls affected by the tragedy of trafficking networks in Eastern Europe, and large advocacy initiatives such as the RED Campaign, developing global policies and local sustainability programmes to advance the promotion of the Green Economy, amongst others.

Amal was captivated to discover a dazzling range of artisanal products during her travels, such as local pottery or ancient hand-blown glass techniques found in Tunisia, handcrafted natural stone jewellery in Zanzibar, and heritage-inspired wood carved contemporary furniture designers in Armenia.

Immersed in their workshops or ateliers, it was not too long until Amal found herself transformed from a client that admired their handmade creations, to seeking ways to help them expand their community-led business models, to becoming a "co-designer".

Over many years, she designed bespoke products together with a number of these local enterprises and impeccable designers, ranging from novel furniture pieces, home-ware products, accessories and fashion pieces.

Partnering with local creative design enterprises that also partner with local communities, such as vulnerable or displaced women and girls, to help them expand their income from their own creative industries, became the principle behind the MEDANI Brand's collaborative partnership philosophy.

The MEDANI Brand, therefore, plans to collaborate in making "joint-design" products that build on the local manufacturers’ original creative process in thoughtful combination with the MEDANI Brand's own design DNA - in the hope that it will also result in greater exposure and a larger client base for our community-support partner.

These creative industries and what they can do for their local communities, and in turn, their impact on the wider economy as a whole, is the driver behind the MEDANI brand’s aspiration to develop tangible and genuine creative collaborations.

René Habermacher

René Habermacher is Swiss-born, Paris-based and Greek at heart.

His work investigates the question of identity, heritage, gender and race.

An illustrator turned photographer and filmmaker, he works as a multidisciplinary switch artist.

He famously lensed Naomi Campbell as black Athena for the cover of Vogue Hellas 2004 Olympics issue, before collaborating with Dakis Ioannou’s DESTE foundation, Marina Abramovic, Dimitris Papaioannou and Lynsey Peisinger among others.

Commissioned by various international publications, he was selected as one of the photographers throughout a century to represent his generation in “Coming Into Fashion: A Century of Photography at Condé Nast”.

His work has been exhibited at the Parco Museum Tokyo, the Hyeres International Festival of Fashion and Photography, the MOCA Los Angeles and the FIT NYC.

René Habermacher is co-writing a fiction series supported by a grant from the French National Center of Cinema (CNC) on colonial France and its involvement to slavery.

For his short film project „Black Achilles“ he received the support of the Greek Film Center in 2021.

He directed in collaboration with Lynsey Peisinger and Antoine Asseraf the 76 minute performance film „I WANT“, released in 2021 and the online project „WE ARE THE EYE“, both on the fallout of covid 19 isolation.

„WE ARE THE EYE“ was awarded „BRITISH JOURNAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY EDITION 365“ award, together with the self portrait project „CLOSETOPIA“ in 2022.