From the early twentieth century to the present day, the women of Gee’s Bend – a small, remote, Black community in Alabama, USA – have been creating hand-stitched, geometric quilt works, now internationally recognised as modern masterpieces. Despite this recognition, the artisans have experienced difficulty in monetizing their work and the community has struggled financially.

In a first for Gee’s Bend, the artisans have used luxury, designer-provided fabrics for their designs – colourful cashmeres, wools and fly-weight nylons, all leftover from Marfa Stance production in Italy – combined with their own found fabric, resulting in striking colour and material juxtapositions. The distinctive Gee’s Bend geometric designs were applied with traditional quilt piecing and sewing techniques, overlaid with Marfa Stance’s signature‘onion’ topstitch. Each work bears the quilter’s moniker. The 15 garments have been finished at the Marfa Stance factories in Italy. 

Georgia Dant, founder and creative director of Marfa Stance says: “It has been a dream to collaborate with the women of Gee’s Bend. I have long been inspired by their minimalist art movement, with its stripped-back, modern geometric design. Through partnering with NEST, Marfa Stance is proud to have given Gee’s Bend its biggest production order to date making the largest positive financial impact on their community and helping to affect change.” 

Claudia Pettway Charley, Community Manager of Gee’s Bend says: “This production order from Marfa Stance is the largest brand collaboration to date, providing work and income for 38 quilters in the Gee’s Bend community. It was great to be able to allow so many quilters to take part in this collaboration, allowing them the opportunity to show off their abilities. I loved seeing younger quilters, as well as the more seasoned quilters, participate.”