This elegant round woven Lupane Basket is intricately handwoven from Ilala palm in the Lupane district in Zimbabwe. Traditionally, locals would use their baskets in their villages to collect and store grain. Nowadays, these fairtrade trays can be used in many places in your home, like kitchens, table settings, bathrooms, or as unique wall decor.
These trays are handwoven from palm leaf in a social workplace in Lupane. Here, women and girls are taught the traditional art of basket weaving. The making of one basket takes a very long time. In return, the baskets also last a lifetime.
Ilala palm is indigenous to Zimbabwe and grows in dry and sandy areas. These trees are non-invasive, plentiful and readily available. To make the leaves flexible for weaving, the youngest soft leaves are first boiled before they are dried in the shade. The fibrous leaves, once dried, are naturally cream in colour. Over time they get a bit darker.
The basket has a raised edge of around 5-8 cm, which makes it a perfect tray as well. Use it on a table for your cups, biscuits and tea, or as a centrepiece with a vase of beautiful flowers. In the bathroom in comes in handy for all your personal accessories. Personally we like hanging these baskets on the wall. It will give your interior an ethnic touch and fits into a boho style interior.
