Rima Malallah, a young woman living and creating in Amman, Jordan, is bringing her colorful handmade art to the Ammanian masses. Different from other galleries in Amman, Malallah offers a wide variety of products (including original paintings, prints, postcards, journals, cards, jewelry, handpainted ties, hand-knit scarves, bottle vases, key chains and coasters) and encourages interaction with her clients. Customers can walk in and commission a piece from her directly.
What this means, in “green” terminology, is that Jordanians have a colorful, fun place to buy local, handmade products instead of imported, machine-made products that take their toll on the environment.
Malallah’s store is called Love on a Bike and opened in July 2007. It is located in the Jabal Amman neighborhood and, appropriately, right off of Rainbow Street. The bright colors and reasonable prices make it a luring attraction.
Encouraging people to develop a love for making handcrafted arts themselves, Malallah hosts a knitting circle at her shop every Saturday.
Malallah states her attitude about the handmade quality and public accessibility of her work, saying that “I make everything you see in the store. Every little thing… I really encourage people to visit, see the work, have a feel for it.”
She also brings her work to the Ammanian public in another way, through various murals that decorate the landscape of the city. The most public of these murals is the thoroughfare of the Radisson SAS Hotel, a quarter of a kilometer long stretch that Malallah spent 3 months painting. The colorful mural depicts the dreamlike journey of a boy and a girl through stars, clouds, and trees (check out a detail of the mural above).
Have you ever been to Love on a Bike? Please share your experiences below!
Read more about the handmade revolution::
Etsy: The Ebay for Handmade Goods
Savta Connection Takes Urban Knitting to Tel Aviv’s Streets
Guy Lougashi Weaves Together Baskets and People with Recycled Paper
Author: Karen Chernick
Much to the disappointment of her Moroccan grandmother, Karen became a vegetarian at the age of seven because of a heartfelt respect for other forms of life. She also began her journey to understand her surroundings and her impact on the environment. She even starting an elementary school Ecology Club and an environmental newsletter in the 3rd grade. (The proceeds of the newsletter went to non-profit environmental organizations, of course.) She now studies in New York. Karen can be reached at karen (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
11 thoughts on “Rima Malallah Brings Handmade Art and Love on a Bike to Amman”
Comments are closed.