In the African enclave of Paris’ 18th arrondissement, ateliers line the bustling streets. Inside each shop, tailors huddle over their sewing machines, immersed in the precise business of needle and thread. Each undertakes the work for their own reasons — to provide for their families, to carry on tradition, or fulfill their dream of opening their own shop. The craft, tactile and meticulous, offers the familiarity of home, threading past and present into a seamless whole. 

Fedel, a self-given name meaning “the chosen one by God,” opened his namesake atelier in 2005. He comes from seven generations of Mauritanian businesspeople. As a young man, Fedel honed his tailoring skills in Senegal and Italy and operated a thriving atelier near the Senegalese-Mauritanian border. After fleeing rising ethnic tensions in the late 80s, Fedel arrived in Paris. “I don’t work to make money but to master my craft,” he says. “My work is a way of being.” Today, Fedel partners with a local collective to train the next generation of aspiring tailors.