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Woman Of The World

Photography Alice KeeneyPhotos 23Issue March 2024
Team Ibu: “Our team has never been stronger,” says Walker, of her colleagues, pictured left to right: Hannah Blatt, Sarah Blanford, Meredith Gale, Beth Lin, Marisa Nemirow, and Lasley Steever.Textile artist-turned-artisan activist and entrepreneur Susan Hull Walker in the King Street studio behind Ibu’s showroomThe signature Iris Apfel beaded clutch, handmade by the women of Bien Abyé in Haiti for Ibu; “I’m so grateful. That Iris clutch put us on the map,” says Bien Abyé founder Dayanne Danier whose pieces can now also be found at other high-end stores.(below),Woman Of The WorldDesigning Change: Ibu COO Beth Lin and Meredith Gale, director of creative collaborations, review product orders in the workroom.Hannah Blatt, director of artisan support, and Sarah Blanford, website and communications managerIbu’s accessories and clothing are sourced from artisans around the globe.Walker with a weaver in West Timor, Indonesia, in August 2010.Sain Kai, the Arema Weaving Space and Primary School in Colombia, was funded by the Ibu Foundation in 2021 and built with traditional materials and construction techniques of the Wayuu community in La Guajira.Ibu supporter Heidi Walker with Samburu women on a Fringe Road adventure to Kenya in May 2022.Ibu on the Runway: In addition to trunk shows around the country, Ibu has hosted various local runway events through the years, including the April 2017 Ali4Ibu fashion show at The Cedar Room, with Shavonne Mack modeling Ali MacGraw designs.The Ibu Foundation’s March 2019 launch and World Dress Collection show at the Gibbes Museum of Art, with opera singer and Ibu ally Alyson Cambridge.Woman Of The WorldChelsea Rampersant and Eddie Irions on the runway at The Fringe Revolution fundraiser at Festival Hall last spring.Mas Moss: Noted designer and Ibu Ambassador Charlotte Moss (second from right) with artisan leader Nawal El Hariti (right) in Ourika, Morocco, planning for the Charlotte Moss X Ibu collection released in fall 2017. Moss returns to Charleston this March to debut her second Ibu collection.El Hariti with artisans and allies during the Fringe Road adventure to Morocco in October 2019.Rangina Hamidi, founder of Kandahar Treasure and former Minister of Education for Afghanistan, speaking with Susan Hull Walker at Ibu’s Global Champions event in March 2022.Ibu Global Champions at a panel discussion at the Charleston Library Society for International Women’s Day last year.Colombian designer Mercedes Salazar at Ibu’s fall 2023 fundraiser, Colombiana.Walker with the visiting Colombian luminaries at the home of board member Amanda Flynn.Bringing artisans together to network, share best practices, and brainstorm solutions to common challenges “has been more valuable for them and for us than we realized,” says Walker. Ibu Global Champions (from left) Wafae Safar (Cherry Buttons, Morocco), Samina Mahmud (SheWorks, Pakistan), Juan Pablo Gomez (El Dorado Edit, Colombia), Gulmina Mahmud (SheWorks, Pakistan), Hassana Yusuf (Queen Amina Embroidery, Nigeria), Dayanne Danier (Bien Abyé, Haiti), and Juan Sebastian Rivera (El Dorado Edit, Colombia) in Charleston on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2023Walker in her home that once belonged to preservationist Susan Pringle Frost. Walker, too, is a preservationist, but of textile traditions, and through Ibu she aims to “bring out the bold in every woman.”

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Woman of the World: Textile artist-turned-advocate and entrepreneur Susan Hull Walker is refashioning global style and the lives of the women artisans creating it
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