Guri I Zi

Guri I Zi is a brand of high quality ethical handmade textiles for tableware and interior design, founded in 2006 by Elena Galateri di Genola for the empowerment of women.

Guri I Zi has 12,000 inhabitants in the province of Shkodra, one of the poorest areas in northern Albania.

In this context, in 2006, Idee migrantiOnlus launched the Guri I Zi project with the aim of providing an employment opportunity for the most vulnerable women through the enhancement of local textile handicrafts. The mission is to combat poverty through social women's entrepreneurship initiatives based on the enhancement of handicrafts and the technical and management training of vulnerable women.

A first textile workshop is then launched in the village of the same name in Albania in 2009 and a retail outlet in Italy, in 2012, in Milan, which operates according to fair trade principles.

Following the model of the Guri I Zi project in Albania, the Motivo Donna project was born in 2021 with the aim of generating an employment opportunity for fragile women in Italy. Following technical training today young women work in a textile workshop in Milan.

Guri I Zi's handcrafted products from the "Motivo Donna" collections combine design and precious craftsmanship made entirely on a wooden loom in Italy from natural plant-based yarns. The core values of social inclusion and environmental sustainability, combined with a passion for fine craftsmanship, make each Guri I Zi product a unique piece.

The interplay of hand-woven warp and weft, which can be glimpsed in our fabrics, gives the artifacts an unmistakable brilliance and strength unobtainable in industrial processing.