Origin Story
Back to Where It Began
March 2025 · Addis Ababa
In March 2025, I arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the first time. Not with an artisan's pride, but carrying a sincere question: Could Chinese lacquerwork and carving light up new possibilities for children far away?
The Deborah Foundation School for Down Syndrome Youth is a nonprofit school providing growth support for young people with Down syndrome. Over the years, they had solved the most fundamental yet most difficult challenges — food, healthcare, and education.
The children had meals, classrooms, and daily care. But founder Mr. Abadula Gemeda shared with me his deeper concern:
What then?
When young people with Down syndrome enter society, what then? This question had lingered in my heart for a long time too.
As a craftsman who has walked alongside traditional arts for fifteen years, I have witnessed firsthand how craft can transform a person — it brings calm to the restless, focus to the timid, and lets the lost discover beauty being born in their own hands.
Initially, I came with ideas of 'craft therapy' or 'assistance,' but quickly rejected my own assumptions. They are already wonderful, with no 'problems' to fix. What we needed was not to repair, but to build a suitable pathway — one where talent and passion could flow naturally.
So we chose 'co-creation,' and named this initiative 'Hands & Stars.'
Chinese craft traditions value time and focus above all. And these young people possess exactly these qualities. While we gradually lose our ability to focus amid endless choices and information, they can often devote themselves to a single task with pure passion.
When I truly entered the classroom, sat alongside the children, and saw the light sparkling in their eyes as they gripped the carving knife, I suddenly understood: what they need has never been 'help,' but to be seen, trusted, and given a chance to shine.
We are not rescuing stars — we are helping each star find its own universe.
