PAMOJA: Sunset Stripe Woven Shopper
Colourful PAMOJA is a striped woven shopper made from sustainably-sourced Kenyan sisal, with horizontal pastel stripes of orange, purple and pink. With its soft leather carry handles, this is a carry-all for every occasion. Use yours as an everyday handbag with plenty room to pack for weekend breaks, shopping trips and beach days – they come in two handy sizes.
The talented women who produce these woven shoppers are led by chairlady Mbeti who set up this flourishing weaving group single-handedly. She now leads twelve weaving groups with over thirty weavers in each group – practically all of them women who have been taught this age-old craft by their mothers and grandmothers. Inspirational Mbeti has built a weavers’ centre with her savings, and it’s from here that she runs the group, stores basket weaving materials and supplies, and prepares completed orders for shipping.
These orders keep her hundreds of weavers in regular work, and able to provide for their own families through this flexible, portable and sociable craft.
Material: SISAL & LEATHER HANDLES
Dimensions:
LARGE - 36cm W x 26cm H x 24cm D | Handle Drop: 15cm
JUMBO - 50cm W x 34cm H x 32cm D | Handle Drop: 16cm
If you need a specific size please let us know prior to placing your order.
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 KingdomWoven Shopper
Excellent, efficient service, beautiful product - just gorgeous
The Basket Room
Thank you for your review, we are glad you had a positive shopping experience with us!
United KingdomGreat bag
It was easy to buy, and a really fast and efficient delivery. I love the bag! Earlier in the year my daughter gifted me a KUBWA bag, and that too is very much used and loved. I wish though, they included some way of making them “safer” , so that somehow, we could close the top and thus making it harder for “wandering hands”. Just a thought.
The Basket Room
Thank you for your review and feedback! We will pass this onto our production team!
United KingdomBeautiful basket
Excellent! I really loved the note in the bottom of the basket telling me who had made it! Great idea, company & service
The Basket Room
Thank you for your review and kind words. We hope you enjoy using your new basket bag! Thanks for shopping with us at The Basket Room
