KAZA: Brown & Grey Two Tone Woven Shopper
The striking two-tone KAZA shopper bag is handwoven in Kenya’s rural Eastern Region, and hand dyed using 100% natural dyes. Use yours as an everyday handbag with room to pack for overnight stays, grocery shopping and trips to the gym.
Made from local sisal grass, the preparation process is extensive even before dyeing and weaving begins: the grass is first harvested and rolled by hand. The KAZA’s bottom half is dyed with charcoal crushed in boiling water and heated over an outdoor fire, whilst its darker top section is dyed with chimney soot gathered from weavers’ home chimneys.
Basket weaving is an additional source of income for the women in the cooperative, whose main earnings come from unreliable subsistence farming.
All our hand-woven bags come with a thank you card from the cooperative that made it, and you can meet the weavers HERE.
Material: SISAL & LEATHER
Dimensions (approx):
LARGE - Width: 45cm x Height: 26cm x Depth: 24cm
Handle Drop: 15cm
JUMBO - Width: 65cm x Height: 34cm x Depth: 32cm
Handle Drop: 16cm
Please note, as this is a handmade product, dimensions & colour may vary from those shown in the photographs.
HANDMADE IN KENYA
Our journey into sustainable style began in Kenya, and the lion’s share of our woven baskets are Kenyan-made. Whilst every region of Kenya boasts its own rich natural bounty, each cooperative we partner with offers expertise in its own unique form of basketry. Weaving, dyeing and grass-rolling techniques differ across the regions as much as basket shapes, patterns and structures. These precious crafts are woven through the generations within families - passed along continuous thread from mother to daughter - protecting and preserving an art form as old as man.
Vast and colourful, vibrant and bursting with natural beauty and style, our fair trade baskets are as eclectic as their homeland and its people. From sisal grass to doum palm, banana leaf fibres to palm leaf, each weaving cooperative works with what is locally available and only what can be sustainably sourced, to produce beautiful baskets which are 100% Kenyan made, and ethically produced. All cow hide bag tags, straps, and basket labels are made from leather sourced as a by-product of the food industry. Natural dyes come from pounded roots, bark and vegetables of the region, whilst all synthetic dyes are sustainably sourced.
From the Kamba tribe to the camel-herding Ariaal pastoralists of Northern Kenya, you can read more about the lives of the Kenyan weavers we work with - and the wonderful baskets they produce - below.
Meet The Artisans
Who Made Your Basket?
United KingdomLOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
It is exquisitely made and is a perfect fit for what I need on a day to day use. I love the fact is made in Africa as I am originally from Cape Town. As an artist I am always carrying all sorts of things.
The Basket Room
Thank you for your kind words and leaving us a review, we're so happy we can bring a little bit of Africa to your day to day! Enjoy using your new bag!
GermanyWunderschön !
Wunderschöner Korb, meine Katze liebt ihn !
The Basket Room
Thank you for your review and sending the photo! Who knew cats enjoy the baskets too?! Thanks for shopping with us, hopefully see you again soon!
United KingdomFabulous
So we’ll made and great quality this is the second purchase I also have a laundry basket and the delivery arrived before I was expecting it. Thank you
The Basket Room
Thank you for your review and kind words. Your continued support shopping with us at The Basket Room means so much and we are happy to hear you love the baskets!
