Our story

Every sign has a meaning

Al Sadu was never only decoration. It was a written language that Bedouin women wove: the triangle, the grain, the eye, the comb, the snake's path, each sign a word the weaver placed knowing what it said.

Today Sadu is sold as a "pattern" printed on anything, and its meanings get lost on the way. We give each word back its meaning: every piece we make carries one sign in a design we drew ourselves, machine embroidered on the chest or the front of the cap, with its meaning.

The name

Sadu is the name of the craft itself, and in Saudi usage one of the names of the loom. The root means stretching the hand toward something, and the stride of a walking camel; the warp, the yarn stretched on the loom, shares it. We are «سدو», without the article; the craft is Al Sadu.

Honesty

Our embroidery is inspired by Al Sadu, and we never claim it is a weave: women make Sadu on the loom, and our pieces are machine embroidered, each design drawn by us. Meanings in Sadu vary from weaver to weaver and place to place, so we write "is said to" and name the source; when a reading is ours, we write "our reading".

The craft

We machine embroider each sign in the threads closest to its own colours, and every piece is made for you after you order, so nothing waits in a warehouse and our prices stay the same all year. We follow the seasons of the year: winter, Ramadan, Eid and National Day, with the Essentials available all year.

The weavers

Al Sadu is the craft of Bedouin women, and a weaver who masters the tree pattern earns a title of her own. We learn from their work, and write the meanings of their signs as they reached us.

Every sign has a meaning.

Sadu by miniblank. miniblank is a small studio that makes stores for the cultures it loves; Sadu is its second.