Ahlam Said × mennās

mennās, founded by Yemeni-American entrepreneur Ahlam Said, is a concept shop for traditional and reimagined heritage goods from Yemeni artisans. In its founder’s words, mennās is “a woman-led business whose mission is to work with artisans to produce beautiful handcrafted goods using art forms that pay homage to our rich Yemeni history.”

It was built in honor of Ahlam’s mother, who passed away due to COVID-19. “mennās will contribute to mama's legacy of empowering women in Yemen by partnering with female artisans in Yemen, paying them dignified wages for their unique bukhoor blends that are handmade in small batches.”

Read more about mennās – which means “from the people” in Arabic – below, on their website, and on their recent New York Times feature.

“We are from the people, and the people are from us.” In our Yemeni-American household in Texas, my mother repeated this Arabic proverb to keep us grounded, connected, learning from, and in service to our communities. 

Inspired by her teachings, I created mennās . . . Each piece is made with love and care from people who, despite living through war and the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, are preserving and reviving tradition.  Mennas is committed to improving the quality of the artisans’ lives by paying them dignified wages.