Belonging to Us

Nurturing women through making.

This exhibition tells the story of ten years of Shelanu: Women’s Craft Collective.

Also featuring work by eight other organisations, it celebrates the social impact of projects which provide safe spaces for women’s creative development and the innovative and imaginative new products they create for the marketplace. Presenting work by social enterprises: The Flourish Jewellery Project, MasterPeace Academy and Love Welcomes.

Shelanu, which means ‘belonging to us’, is a collective of migrant and refugee women working with Craftspace to develop craft skills, confidence and well-being through social enterprise. They produce high quality craft inspired by their new home, the city of Birmingham and their experiences of migration. As well as learning new making skills, the women are supported to improve their English, learn business skills and run workshops for the community.

For the Belonging to Us exhibition Shelanu launches Nurture, a new range of jewellery made more sustainably, produced with guidance from internationally renowned jeweller Rachael Colley.

Image: Olive Branch brooch from the new Nurture Collection. (Photo M.O. Studios)