KIJANI: Green Beaded Doum Palm Leaf Baskets
Description
Meticulously woven from doum palm leaves, these fabulous KIJANI baskets boast fine emerald green and white beading, and can be used as planters, flower pots and fruit bowls, jewellery baskets, desk tidies and organisers for bathroom toiletries.
These palm leaf baskets are produced by weavers from both the Samburu and Rendille tribes - all members of the Ngurunit Weavers Group in Northern Kenya. Farming and milk are the mainstays of this Ariaal pastoralist community, and traditionally these palm leaf baskets were woven to collect camel milk in, coated in a waterproof substance and smoked to make watertight. This tight and complex form of basket weaving has recently been revived, using the traditional Rendille weaving style along with Samburu designs and beading to create a versatile, beautiful home accessory.
Become a patron of this rare craft when you purchase one of our palm leaf baskets, and you will become an important part of our journey at the same time. We are proud to empower and support these talented weavers through fair trade and flexible work. Each basket is supplied with a thank you card from the cooperative: you can meet the ladies behind your basket HERE.
MATERIAL: Doum Palm Leaf
DIMENSIONS:
Mini: 8-9cm DIA x 8-9cm H
Small: 9-10cm DIA x 9-10cm H
Midi: 12-14cm DIA x 9-10cm H
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.
