MLO: Mini Sisal Set of Two
We think we’ve found the perfect ethical gift: a pretty pair of XXS unique woven planters, ideal for homing cacti and small houseplants. They look lovely sitting on shelves and window sills and will bring a pop of Keynan colour and pattern to any desk or bedside table.
This pair of handwoven baskets boast vibrant bands of turquoise and brown and we’ve handpicked each pair for you ourselves, because we know just how hard it is to choose ONE beautiful woven basket, let alone TWO!
These handwoven planters are crafted in rural Kenya by women from a craft group we’re especially close to, having worked with them since The Basket Room began in 2014. We’re delighted to be bringing yet more sustainable work to these exceptionally talented women, thanks to your purchases.
The women who produce these woven baskets belong to a Craft Based Organisation, representing several women’s weaving cooperatives in this area of Kenya. This organisation totalled 520 artisan women in 2014, and in 2021 that number reached over 1500 women – and counting!
Making and selling baskets enables these women to rely less on farming - an unreliable lifestyle due to scarcity of rain in this semi-arid area of Kenya. The craftswomen who produce these baskets are paid a wage for their work and empowered to support themselves and their families with this additional income stream. Money earned from basket sales enables women to feed, clothe and send their children to school, as well as paying medical bills. You can meet the weavers from this region HERE.
When you become the owner of one of these beautiful woven baskets you are also helping to protect this age-old craft for future generations to learn - and earn - from. You also enable us to keep providing this safe, environmentally friendly and ethical work to rural Kenyan families: an alternative to poaching vulnerable wildlife and deforestation.
Material: Sisal Grass
Dimensions: 8 -10 cm x 9 - 11cm
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.
