The Story of the Berber Baskets
These unique berber baskets were originally used to store flatbreads (or 'khobz' in Moroccan) and rice. They are braided by hand in different parts of Morocco, mainly in the south. Wonderful as a colourful plant pot, storage basket in the bathroom, decorative eye-catcher, a place to store your keys...
As with many artisanal processes, the baskets are made in the artisans house, as an integral part of home work and the family. The men start by braiding the baskets from coils of date palm leaves. Then, the women decorate the baskets in different colour patterns, by using thick needles and leftover pieces of wool. This is an astonishingly delicate and time-consuming technique. The more colours and the more complex the pattern, the longer it takes to finish. The making of one small basket usually takes a couple of days!
Berber tribes in the south of Morocco decorate more expressively than the traditional Arabic style, and more colourfully. This style is characterized by tribal shapes, geometric patterns and explosive use of colour combinations. None of the baskets are exactly the same, so you can be sure that your Berber basket is unique!
Would you like to know more about the process and symbolic meaning of these baskets? Make sure to read our blog post on the making of Berber baskets.
When ordering a basket, please write down in 'notes' in the check-out section which colour combination you would prefer. If you leave the 'notes' section blank, we will make sure to pick a beautiful one for you!
Did you know we have Black & White Berber Baskets as well?
