CHAMA: Khaki & White Colour Block Storage Basket
Description
Natural soot and earthy hues bring two-tone synergy in this naturally-dyed, hand woven storage basket. These CHAMA natural woven baskets are produced in three different sizes by a rural Kenyan weaving cooperative and make beautiful decorative storage baskets for all over the home.
The women who produce these two-tone natural baskets have woven from a young age: this careful, income-generating craft is traditionally passed down along the female line in Kenya. These craftswomen weave within a small but expanding cooperative led by the inspirational Madam Dorcas as Chairlady. Where once these weavers would travel regularly to Nairobi to sell their woven baskets, The Basket Room now provides them with regular and fairly paid orders. Completed baskets are stored in purpose-built mud huts before being shipped to us in the Cotswolds.
Each natural woven basket is supplied with a thank you card from the weaving cooperative, and you can meet these weavers right HERE. Production takes place primarily during the dry seasons, since the majority of weavers are from farming families who rely largely on subsistence farming and rainfall. To buy one of our woven baskets is to become part of our story: a tale of empowerment, dignity, and fair trade.
Material: SISAL & BRANDED LEATHER TAB
Dimensions (approx):
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.
FAIR TRADE & 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.
