When the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake rocked Haiti, the women employed by designer Phelicia Dell were hard at work on their sewing machines. The workshop and machines were destroyed. Worse yet, a chic Pétionville showroom that Dell had inaugurated just two months before was also lost in the quake.
But four months later, Dell’s company, VéVé Collections, was back in business. On trips to Miami, she would scour thrift shops looking for materials and small sewing machines that she would take back to Haiti one by one.
“I had to restart. I needed to give my workers hope,’’ said Dell, who produces a line of fashion, jewelry and intricately beaded bags in jute.
She is among dozens of Haitian artisans and designers who will be displaying their creations Saturday and Sunday at the “Women in Production’’ trade fair and marketplace at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
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