Claudia Martinez Mansell founded embroidery studio Kissweh – which means ‘trousseau’ in Arabic – in 2017. Prior to this, she spent her career in humanitarian work, volunteering at refugee camps in Middle Eastern countries such as Lebanon and Syria. These moments inspired her to create a sustainable livelihood for refugee women living in Beirut and an output for their highly skilled hand embroidery. She takes the energetic spirit of her Los Angeles home and combines it with traditional folk art motifs; as a result, each one-of-a-kind piece feels familiar and homely, like a cherished keepsake or a precious heirloom.