PENCIL: Stationery Motif Embroidered Woven Storage Basket
A scribbling pencil motif designed by illustrator Jacqueline Colley adorns this ethically hand-woven sisal basket, hand embroidered by Nduta, an multi-talented artist working in Nairobi. This design belongs to a growing collection of embroidered baskets that Nduta has worked on for The Basket Room, and this one is brand new for 2023.
These woven baskets make delightful children’s storage and will also appeal to all of those with a playful approach to interiors. Use your embroidered baskets as desk tidies and planters, on bedside tables and coffee tables - or for knitting, crafting, toys, muslins or toiletries.
Not just practical and fun, these baskets also serve a vital purpose for their Kenyan makers. The weavers, taught by their own mothers and grandmothers, make a reliable secondary income fulfilling orders from The Basket Room. In times of unpredictable drought, flexible work like weaving enables these women - who otherwise rely solely on farming to put food on the table - to better support their families throughout the seasons.
Material: SISAL & BRANDED LEATHER TAB
Dimensions (approx): 14.5-16.5cm DIA x 14.5-16.5cm H
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.
