That small people, individuals, make miracles and succeed solely due to their hard work and perseverance is proven by the story of our Belma Gutlić, who has been a scholarship holder of the Hastor Foundation for thirteen years. She used “the wind” she got from us for her own windmills. After graduating from the Mixed Secondary School in Bosanski Petrovac, Belma Gutlić enrolled into the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Bihać at the Department of Textile and Clothing Design, where she is currently a third-year student.
She has been awarded numerous prizes in competitions in the field of fine arts, and she wanted to present herself herself through fashion, so she transferred the knowledge gained at the aforementioned Department in Bihać into the project “Fashion story in Bosanski Petrovac”, the details of which we bring below.
The problem of the inactive textile industry in Bosanski Petrovac and reviving it through a sewing course and getting acquainted with the entire process of making garments is at the same time an escape from the everyday life and a modest program for young people through a new form of education and interaction that encourages creativity and productivity, but also provides the opportunity of self-employment.
Within her local community, in March, Belma decided to start writing the project “Fashion Story in Bosanski Petrovac”, which is closely related to her future profession, with the hope that she will transfer the acquired knowledge and try to encourage young people to work creatively by mentoring workshops with a highly experienced seamstress. As the interactive program in Bosanski Petrovac is very modest, launching this type of workshop was Belma’s attempt to connect people without employment or with excess free time who want to use it properly. Younger connoisseurs of tailoring and sewing have become a rarity, which is why she started the initiative. The peculiarity of this fashion story lies in the fact that, in addition to the fact that knowledge can be used by the imaginative or picky and create garments to their liking, knowledge of this craft can provide financial independence.
An additional value of this project is the inclusion of people with disabilities through their participation in creative workshops and performing activities that are within their capabilities. As creative workshops offer a wide range of activities from research, through the process of drawing an idea and developing it to make garments, people with disabilities can express their ideas, thoughts and be given help by volunteers to realize them.
Selma Imamović
