IN FOCUS | BABA TREE
A change in season often inspires a change around the home. Whether that be some much needed spring cleaning, rearranging rooms, giving old pieces of furniture some love or perhaps introducing a new decorative piece.
We have recently welcomed a collection of artisanal baskets that are useful in any room of the home and suit a range of interiors. They not only look beautiful but are also ideal for storage and display dried foilage and plants in.
About Baba Tree Basket Co
The business has been operating for the past 15 years now with over 150 employees from the Gurunsi community based in the Bolgatanga region of West Africa. The artisans include men, women and children who hand weave each basket, a tradition that has been practiced for many centuries. The Baba Tree Basket Co has consciously preserved the culture of weaving and every artisan that is employed by the company is compensated for their expertise and paid a percentage of the baskets retail cost as well as their wage. Making the baskets a fair trade, sustainable and ethical purchase.
The basket-weaving process
They are made from elephant grass which is harvested wild, dried and then sent to the Gurunsi community to be woven. Prior to weaving, the artisans split each piece of grass in two, dampen with water and roll together to create and durable, twisted strand of straw. This process involves a whole collective of people and usually takes a tleast a day to work through a few bundles of grass but is important to ensure the grass is malleable enough to weave. Some baskets require two bundles of straw while others require as many as six. Each basket represents collaborative effort, time. A single artisans hands weave the baskets form, pattern and colours — drawing inspiration from others and past designs.
SHOP BASKETS
Images sourced from Baba Tree Basket Co.