♪ Piano playing ♪
Welcome.
♪ Piano playing ♪
-It's so beautiful.
-Thank you.
[Ming-Ming Tung-Edelman] Today is the grand opening for the Refugee Artisan Initiative.
We are so grateful to have this opportunity
to showcase our new space here in Lake City.
We move here a block away from
1800 square feet of space.
-Sixty unique sewn products that we make
for local Seattle designers.
[Ming-Ming Tung-Edelman] To about 7500 square feet of space, because we have one in triple the number of artisans.
Thank you for being here.
So I'm inspired to do this work because this dress next to me,
my grandmother who made this for me many many decades ago
and now as inspiration as a guide,
that if you give women tools and skills,
they can become self-sufficient.
Our mission is to partner with the refugee and immigrant women,
make sure they have a prosperous transition in the US
for skill training and micro-business development.
So we know that sewing is a universal language.
Many women come to Seattle already have.
Why not focus on what they're good at and build them up?
In weeks, they'll be able to use their sewing skill and start
getting their first paycheck in America, providing for their family.
We think that that is vital.
[Baseerah Salim] And I so happy because it just opened my own business.
-These are Seattle University nursing students scrubs.
These are made from bed sheets.
[Ming-Ming Tung-Edelman] We start making other products, such as medical scrubs,
bags and other items, all upcycled.
[Bruce Harrell] And it's really our honor as a city to invest in such a great strategy
and you just feel the love and the vibrancy in the air.
So this is a great, great organization very proud to be part of it.
♪ Piano playing ♪
[Ming-Ming Tung-Edelman] We're continuing to evolve from makerspace for making,
and maybe into a bigger dream of a community refugee art center.