جوردان تايمز -

AMMAN - Hama Hinnawi found her calling when she entered the fashion world for a cause.

The 32-year-old business administration graduate, who has worked as a consultant at several local companies, said she chose a career in fashion design to rekindle her ties to her heritage and help preserve and reinvigorate it.

Hinnawi “has always had a passion for traditional embroidery” from Palestine and Jordan, so she tries to include an element of heritage in her clothing.

"Whenever I wear something I have worked on, people say they like it and ask me to make them one," she told The Jordan Times in a recent interview.

"So I thought to myself, why shouldn’t I work on designing clothes that are trendy, but close to our oriental heritage at the same time?"

Hinnawi took a leap of faith and decided to try her hand at fashion design.

"I tested myself in March, at a bazaar for Mother’s Day, and I got very good feedback, so I made up my mind to continue," she said.

By creating what she refers to as "trendy oriental designs", Hinnawi, whose family is originally Palestinian, has a special clientele in mind.

"I am targeting foreigners, foreign embassies, the EU and the UN. I want those who work there to get acquainted with the traditional designs, to let them know what embroideries are, what bedouin style is and from where it really comes," she said.

"I want them to know that this is our heritage, as Palestinians, Jordanians and Arabs."

Several events triggered Hinnawi's zest for protecting her heritage.

"In December 2010, there was a dinner in the US, where [Sara Netanyahu], the Israeli prime minister's wife, was sitting next to the wife of a Palestinian minister, and they were both wearing the traditional Palestinian dress, each claiming the costume as her heritage."

"Soon after I heard about that incident, I finally managed to enter my parents' country for the first time in my life through a group visa, and I discovered that Israelis present Palestinian heritage as their own in the food they serve and the clothes they wear," she explained.

Looking up designs of the traditional headdress (keffiyeh), Hinnawi said she found that an Israeli designer had been awarded for his keffiyeh designs.

The accumulation of these events in such a short period of time provoked her into action.

“Through designing, at least I can do something for Palestine. I’m not a writer; I cannot do anything but this,” Hinnawi told The Jordan Times.

“For example, I personally love embroidery, but I cannot wear the traditional dress; I don’t feel like it reflects my personality, but I want traditional embroideries to be part of my clothes.”

“So I make shawls, vests, jumpsuits with traditional embroidery that you can wear anywhere. This is something that others of Palestinian origin living abroad face. They prefer to wear practical clothes sporting traditional embroidery because they can wear them anywhere,” she said.

To make sure she gets to her target audience, Hinnawi approached the US embassy, where her designs received a warm welcome.

“They helped me organise a fashion show at the embassy in mid-June, where the employees modelled, and I made sure that the food served during the show was from our culture,” she recounted.

The show was followed by a two-day exhibition that attracted around 250 staff members from the embassy, according to Hinnawi.

Although her budding business is personally rewarding, she acknowledged that it is not always smooth sailing.

“It takes me about two months to get the handmade designs from the West Bank, and with Aleppo closed because of the unrest in Syria, I cannot get all the material I need.”

But Hinnawi is still intent on pursuing her vocation.

“I try to design something special, wearable and affordable that gets the message across… that this is our heritage and we want it to continue.”

“The goal is not to brag about a JD5,000-traditional dress that you bought… The point is that we wear our heritage proudly for everyone to see.”