For nearly 40 years, Musa Ferruni has dedicated his entire life to sewing traditional clothing, something that has made him famous well beyond the country’s borders.

Musa has transformed one of the rooms of his house in Dukat into his own little workshop.

We found him working with his vintage sewing machine on a women’s vest, part of the traditional costume of Dukati.

Passed from one generation to another from his mother’s side, Musai is today the last person to sew ethnic costumes for polyphonic groups.

“I began since I was child, seeing my mother working, and it was exactly this machine that my mom used to work on to. I was attracted by the technique. My mother saw it as an opportunity so she started giving me small tasks as to give her a hand, mainly for men ornaments”, explains Musa.

“I was still an amateur. When I returned from army duty and finished high school, this became my priority. I made some costumes for Gjirokastra, then the folk group of Dukati. Since then, I began having many requests from nearby areas”.

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Musa recounts that despite getting some experience he still felt incomplete, which is why he traveled to Tirana in 1989 and got a certificate as a professional sewer.

His wife Antoneta has also picked up the family’s tradition and has become his right hand.

“Musa embroiders and I sew. He has been working since he was 20 years old”, she says.