Moroccan designer Karim Adduchi, listed by Forbes as the 2019 “designer to watch” in the Middle East 30 Under 30 category has been busy in his Amsterdam design studio designing masks for the homeless. Since March 2020, at the start of the pandemic crisis, the innovative designer gathered the help of his team to execute the design and send them to organizations who could distribute them to families and homeless without means of securing their own.
To his 9,500 fans, the Northern Moroccan born designer from Imzour posted an instructional pattern for how to make their own mask using fabric at home. “Use a cotton fabric with a tight weave, which you can wash at min 65 degrees. Research shows that kitchen towels and sheets are excellent materials. Print the pattern at 100% size for an adult, and on 70% size for a child. The mask is double folded, so you can slide in a replaceable filter, such as kitchen paper, a piece of a vacuum cleaner bag, or microfiber fabric.” To ensure no one was left behind, Adduchi also posted his team’s contact and offered answer any mask design-related inquiries: studio@karimadduchi.com
The spirit and the tradition of the Moroccan culture places a strong emphasis on looking out for each other and taking great pride in the land and heritage. These values transcend to those that are living abroad and Adduchi is a prime example of never forgetting his roots in spite of having moved to Barcelona to complete his education and creating a home base in the Netherlands. Many of his designs reflect his North African roots and include traditional Moroccan prints and fabrics. He entitled his Autumn/Winter 19/20 Paris Ready to Wear Men’s Fashion Collection “Maktub” a treasured Arabic word that means destiny. In 2019, Adduchi was also awarded the Amsterdam Culture Business Award for “bridging the Arab and Western Cultures.”