Meet The African Basket Weavers | Films

To celebrate the precious craft of basket weaving, this one-minute film is a vital chapter in the story of our baskets: their prologue. Come on an immersive journey right back to the earthly beginnings of our baskets - sisal being planted in rural Kenya - and right through the meticulous process, culminating in the finished product.

Images in this film show each part of the process in action, evoking the powerful sense of community that comes from weaving together in groups. Sisal plants are bedded in soil. Leaves are handpicked, stripped and rolled using hands and feet. Soot and ash are pounded to make natural dyes whilst elsewhere huge coils of twined sisal are stirred in large vats of boiling water, before being hung to dry outdoors on racks and hooks.

Women gather outdoors – some sitting, some standing - as their hands weave almost instinctively, having been taught the craft by their own mothers and grandmothers.

Madam Dorcas Ndinda is chairlady of one of the largest Kenyan weaving cooperatives The Basket Room works with. In this film she outlines her role within the group, her vision and dreams for the cooperative, and what weaving means to her.

Meet Bernard Nyerere Kimuli: one of the last loom weavers in Kenya. Bernard produces every single rug and mat sold by The Basket Room himself, and this four-minute film introduces Bernard and the story of his rare craft in more detail.

This four-minute film takes you on a journey deep into the heart of one of the women’s weaving cooperatives we work with in rural eastern Kenya. Here you’ll meet women like Alice, Peninah and Margaret, who each offer candid insights into how basket weaving brings them independence in various forms.