ZAIDI: Lavender, Green & Yellow Tie-Dye Woven Storage Basket
With its dreamy swathes of lavender, soft yellow and sapling green, ZAIDI is a woven storage basket of pastel hued dreams! They’re produced in three handy sizes, woven from indigenous sisal grass in rural Kenya. Use a small woven basket for toiletries, jewellery and watches, remote controls, mobile devices and cables, while the medium and large woven baskets make great floor storage for everything from laundry and loo rolls to rugs and blankets, slippers, firewood and children’s toys. Wherever and however you choose to use your new woven basket it is sure to bring a gentle pop of Kenyan colour and craft to the home.
Basket weaving is a craft that connects generations in Kenya, passed from grandmothers to mothers to daughters all over the country. Basket production takes place mainly during Kenya’s dry seasons. Most of these weavers are from farming communities who rely on growing crops – and therefore, steady rainfall - to feed, support and clothe their families, so when farming slows down, weaving work picks up the slack. Purchasing one of our woven baskets helps us in our mission to empower African women to support their families more sustainably through craft.
Material: SISAL & BRANDED LEATHER TAB
Dimensions (approx):
XSmall: 14.5-16cm DIA x 9.5-11cm H
Small: 19-21cm DIA x 14.5-16cm H
Medium: 24-27cm DIA x 19-21cm 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.
