ZIWA: Neo Mint Wool and Sisal Tote Bag
Description
With its cool minty green stripes and contrasting base in orange, ZIWA is one seriously stylish and laid-back woven tote. The ideal basket bag for taking to the gym, the market or the beach, this pastel-hued beauty was woven by a member of a family-run weaving co-operative in Eastern Region of Kenya.
Weaving each basket bag can take up to six days; this work fits in conveniently with the weavers’ other domestic jobs, childcare and farming duties. These yarn and sisal bags are then sent to a local tannery where cow hide shoulder straps are produced and attached by skilled leatherworkers. This buttery-soft leather used is a by-product of the food industry.
The gift of basketry is one that transcends the generations, passed from grandmothers to mothers to daughters all over Kenya. In producing and selling our basket bags, the women of this cooperative are empowered to support their families with this reliable additional income – and work that is fair, creative and flexible.
Want to know more about the people behind the baskets? Meet the weavers here.
Material: Sisal and Yarn (Synthetic), Leather Straps
Dimensions: 40cmW X 30cmH approx (width is measured at the widest part of the bag)
Strap Length: 29cm approx
Leather used is a by-product of the food industry.
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.
