Swazi Sisal Titja Basket #155 Red Beginning with a base fabric

Beginning with a base fabric of machine made cotton jacquard "bazin"

Wolof women elevate traditional coil weaving by integrating strips of repurposed plastic from mat factories into their natural grass baskets

are some of the most impressive of the African textiles

the intricate patterns are stitched and tied by hand on the undyed cloth

43” wide

Swazi Sisal Titja Basket #155 Red Beginning with a base fabricThis basket was hand woven in a Swaziland development program which has trained over 600 women. Working from home in rural areas, the women often are supporting 8 12 children. Woven of sisal, a pervasive native plant found throughout Swaziland. A 7 inch basket requires about 15 hours to prepare and spin the fiber and another 15 hours for the actual weaving. As the basket becomes larger with each row the time spent weaving exponentially increases.