April 13, 2021 | Tuesday
Fatbardh Kabashi – YoungEuropean Ambassador (YEA), artist, designer and co-founder of Wooden Eyes.
Fatbardh is currently a graduate of the Faculty of Integrated Design at the UBT College. However, he got involved in various community activities at the age of 16, when he, together with his friends, created the Wooden Eyes socially owned enterprise.
The establishment of the Wooden Eyes socially owned enterprise came as a result of the concerning situation with the illiteracy of the blind and efforts to improve that situation. Rahovec/Orahovac, the town Fatbardh comes from, had 149 blind people, only one of whom was trained to read and write in the Braille alphabet. That disturbing fact made Fatbardh and Wooden Eyes contribute to improving the situation by selling their products and so render a 3-month course on the Braille alphabet for 10 people.
The Wooden Eyes community activity was first praised at the UpShift workshop, then at StartUp, organized by UNICEF InovationLab & PEN, to keep on with their success achieved in the international Social Impact Award race, where they conveyed important messages, highlighting social difficulties, especially the ones in their own country.
Lately, Fatbardh has designed the ‘Beyond chair’ artistic creation. For photos click here.
Fatbardh has also attended trainings and seminars on different topics inside and outside the country, always aiming to boost his personal and professional development.
The title of the Young European Ambassador he won by the EU is a value, helping him to promote the values and opportunities that the European Union offers to the youth. He and his fellow young ambassadors are endeavouring to be closer to the needs of the young people in Kosovo and represent their voice in Europe.
Fatbardh’s message to the young people is: “Do not be afraid to take new steps, because every road is a new experience and every experience is a lesson in itself.”