During lockdown in Brussels, Valérie Barkowski was bored at the table. Placemats, tablecloths: always the same, nothing ever moving. She opened her notebook and drew an island. Ozera was born like that—an original placemat to be composed. An idea born during Covid Three meals a day, at home, without moving, without going out: Covid gave …
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Ozera, the original placemat born from the idea of an island
Hand-embroidered home linen in Marrakech: the story of Trass
It is the simplest stitch in all embroidery: the one a child reproduces instinctively, needle in hand, the one used to mend a hem or assemble a garment before the final seam. Trass brings this stitch into our hand-embroidered home linen in Marrakech for the first time. The city’s embroidery has been built around other …
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Moroccan Twisted Thread: An Ancestral Craft Applied to Bed and Table Linen
In 1996, Valérie Barkowski moved to Marrakech. In the alleyways of the medina, she noticed men working outdoors, along the walls. They were everywhere. She did not yet understand what they were doing. She moved closer. They were Moroccan twisted-thread makers – an ancestral trade, discreet, rooted in the quarter for generations. Along the walls, …
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Steam Ship Sudan: A Textile Mission on the Nile
In January 2024, Valérie Barkowski embarked for the first time on the Steam Ship Sudan. A scouting trip, and from the very first hours aboard, this feeling: the Sudan is lived, for real. A different space-time, with a gentleness and grace that have become rare. This is the starting point of an eighteen-month textile design …
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Câllas Milano x Valérie Barkowski: embroidery as a creative gesture
For its Spring 2025 collection, the Italian house Câllas Milano called on the Valérie Barkowski workshop in Marrakech. It is the first time the brand has agreed to let a fashion house use its eponymous tassels. Câllas approached her, and the fashion-and-craft collaboration was built on one simple thing: shared values. Multicoloured tassels, hand-embroidered onto …
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No-Mad 97% India: Building a Brand by Looking Elsewhere
India is captivating.Everyone projects something onto it. Designers from all over the world arrive with open hands, ready to draw inspiration. Its colors, its embroideries, its ancient textiles – all of this has always nourished the collections of Western houses. India is a source. Generous, inexhaustible, sometimes unappreciated. I arrive there. And I look elsewhere. …
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Luxury bespoke home linen, by V.Barkowski in Marrakech
The V.Barkowski boutique in Marrakech is a place where nearly three decades of creation, experimentation, and passion for Moroccan textile craftsmanship converge. Since my arrival in Morocco, I knew that everything was possible here: traditions are perpetuated, artisans keep ancient techniques alive, and the wildest ideas can become reality. The Joy of Possibilities I remember …
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Fez Embroidery: The Origin of Our Noon Collection
In 1997, Valérie Barkowski extracts a single stitch from Fez embroidery, enlarges it, and scatters it irregularly across a white cotton pillowcase. This is the first piece in the Noon collection. Twenty-nine years later, it is still made by hand in the Marrakech workshop, with the same gesture, with the same thread. Fez embroidery: what …
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The Manufacturing Secrets of Our AYA Home Linen
In the manufacturing of V.Barkowski home linen, everything begins with a thread ball. It is hand-closed, stitch by stitch, with a simple needle. Once finished, it is sewn, one by one, onto the edge of the linen. This is AYA, conceived in 1997, and produced continuously ever since. © Tania Panova 1996: A Djellaba Button …
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