PALE: Natural Lidded Laundry Basket
Description
Upstyle your laundry room and bring a little joy to laundry day with the stunning PALE laundry hamper - woven by hand on the shores of Lake Turkana in North Western Kenya. Woven from hand-dyed doum palm leaf which grows wild in the arid Turkana landscape, these lidded laundry baskets are structurally robust and aesthetically pleasing. This collection comes in three sizes.
These laundry baskets have travelled from the shores of the Jade Sea on a bold journey of sustainable craft and ethical production. The Turkana region of Kenya – its largest county - is part of the famous ‘Cradle of Mankind’, where some of the earliest evidence of human evolution has been found. It’s also a part of Africa infamous for severe drought, which this landscape has suffered from since the eighties.
In 1992, a Catholic charity started up a basketry craft project in Turkana to help combat the effects of long-term marginalisation, poor infrastructure and weak integration with the wider Kenyan economy. Today, 300 women from six local villages weave baskets here as a means of income.
For many of these weavers, weaving these laundry baskets means the difference between paying school fees and not. For this collective to continue to thrive and grow means sustainable livelihoods for more families, and essential growth of the Turkana economy.
Material: DOUM PALM LEAF
Dimensions:
S: DIA: 40-44cm | H: 40-44cm
M: DIA: 45-49cm | H: 45-49cm
L: DIA: 50-55cm | H: 50-55cm
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.
Meet The Artisans
Who Made Your Basket?
Very well made basket.
My order arrived very quickly. Very good customer service.
United KingdomSturdy laundry basket
I am very pleased with this sturdy laundry basket, which is big enough to hold our week's laundry. The handles make it easy to carry downstairs to the washing machine. The materials are all natural, which is important to us. I like the cream colour too. It came quickly in the post.
The Basket Room
Thank you for your lovely review! We are very happy to hear you love the laundry basket. Thank you for shopping with The Basket Room
