For Immediate Release - Oxford

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Raymond Jacobs
5 years ago
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All products are handmade in Africa, crafted by weaving cooperatives and sustainably sourced from local materials such as sisal grass, veta vera, banana leaf and doum palm.

1 For Immediate Release - Oxford THE BASKET ROOM DEBUT at MAISON ET OBJET, SEPTEMBER 2017 Ethical lifestyle brand The Basket Room specialises in stylish and contemporary homeware: handwoven baskets and bags, floor mats, laundry baskets, storage baskets and planters. All products are handmade in Africa, crafted by weaving cooperatives and sustainably sourced from local materials such as sisal grass, veta vera, banana leaf and doum palm. SUSTAINABLE STYLE The Basket Room partners with over 1500 weavers across Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Swaziland for whom basket weaving provides a reliable, supplementary income. Every region boasts a unique, traditional style of basketry and its own range of local materials, from the leaves and grasses (and coloured yarn from upcycled woolly jumpers) that form the baskets main fibres to the roots and barks used in many of the baskets natural dyes. Most weavers are primarily farmers, and as drought proliferates across Africa, compromising crop and livestock, many communities turn to the age-old art of weaving to earn extra income. This is flexible, sociable and portable work, and working within a cooperative protects weavers from exploitation.

a week to complete, and weaving is often

2 WOVEN WITH COLOUR, STORIES & CRAFT Most weavers involved in making for The Basket Room are women, and typically the craft is passed through families along the female bloodline. Baskets and mats can take anything up to a week to complete, and weaving is often carried out throughout the working day and into the evenings, alongside the weaver s daily chores and tasks. As globalization reaches into even the most rural corners of Africa, many forms of basket weaving have fallen into a steep decline. The

Basket Room is proud to protect and promote these vital, income-generating crafts through operating a transparent supply chain and by connecting makers with a wider market.

3 Basket Room is proud to protect and promote these vital, income-generating crafts through operating a transparent supply chain and by connecting makers with a wider market. The Basket Room continues to expand its sourcing further across Africa with each new season. Proceeds from weaving helped educate my children. I am now able to clothe and feed myself and my family from the income from weaving. Sometimes I find that I even have money left over, which I save or invest in my grocery business. - Dorcas Ndinda, Chairlady of Kenyan Weaving Cooperative FOUNDING THE BASKET ROOM Founders Holly Dutton and Camilla Sutton worked in fashion production, design and retail before becoming disillusioned with the High Street and joining forces to launch The Basket Room. Sustainable style has always been at the heart of Holly s and Camilla s tastes and endeavours, from specialising in ethical fashion at university to researching the effects of globalisation on the African garment and textile industry. Trips across Africa and a knack for sourcing intricate and locally crafted decorative products led the pair to identify a gap in the UK interiors market for colourful, ethically produced and sustainably sourced storage baskets. The Basket Room made their first online basket sale in November 2014, and today it is a successful online retailer with stockists all over Europe as well as in New York, Paris and London. Holly and Camilla visit the cooperatives and meet the weavers as often as possible, delivering training first-hand, supplying weaving materials and tools, and maintaining strong working relationships with both weavers and committee leaders. Today, they split the work of designing, importing and selling between bases in Nairobi, London and Oxford THE COLLECTION NEW FOR AW17: MOSES BASKETS (GHANA) Four designs with carry handles finished in sustainably-sourced goat s leather. Each baby basket takes three days to complete, hand woven from hand dyed veta vera grass by members of our partner weaving cooperative in Northern Ghana. Supplied with a quilted hypoallergenic foam mattress and a washable cover.

NEW FOR AW17: MATS AND RUNNERS (KENYA) Four mat designs, each available in a choice of three sizes.

They combine the tight and traditional basket weaving technique developed by the Rendille tribe with the delicate beaded embellishments

4 NEW FOR AW17: MATS AND RUNNERS (KENYA) Four mat designs, each available in a choice of three sizes. One single weaver named Bernard produces each of these sisal grass mats using a hand-operated loom, and the larger styles can take up to four days to complete. PAMBO PALM (KENYA) Woven by semi-nomadic pastoralists from doum palm, these baskets are inspired by traditional milk-collection bowls. They combine the tight and traditional basket weaving technique developed by the Rendille tribe with the delicate beaded embellishments seen in Samburu tribal jewellery. LINEAR FUSION (KENYA) Bright stripes, neon and natural hues are all represented this collection of storage baskets, hand woven from sisal grass. These baskets are available in five different sizes, making them ideal planters, desk tidies, laundry baskets and toy storage.

SQUARE AND RECTANGULAR STORAGE BASKETS (GHANA) Woven in Ghana from veta vera (the same grass used for the bicycle

colour palette for this collection of baskets and planters is organic and earthy.

Each basket in this special collection is a one-off.

5 SQUARE AND RECTANGULAR STORAGE BASKETS (GHANA) Woven in Ghana from veta vera (the same grass used for the bicycle baskets and moses baskets) these sturdy woven storage baskets come in a range of colour ways, and the square baskets fit IKEA cubed storage shelving. TRADITIONAL & UNIQUE FINE WEAVE BASKETS (KENYA) Using the finest hand-twisted sisal fibres and all natural dyes, the colour palette for this collection of baskets and planters is organic and earthy. The weavers use tree bark, roots and flowers pounded, boiled and sometimes buried - to achieve certain natural dyes. Each basket in this special collection is a one-off. LAUNDRY BASKETS (KENYA) Each sisal grass laundry hamper takes up to six days to weave by hand. With its soft leather handles these baskets also make great fireside, bathroom and nursery storage. Available in XL size only, in a range of striped and cloud designs that include natural tones, neon pinks, turquoise, blues and whites.

COLOUR BLOCK (KENYA) Hand woven from sisal grass (and some from banana leaf fibres) in three different sizes, these round storage baskets can

The Colour Block collection comes in a range of dusky hues, striking brights and earthy tones CLOUD (KENYA) Available in five different sizes,

Sisal grass is dip dyed and tie dyed to achieve the streaked, cloudy effect, so no two baskets are the same.

6 COLOUR BLOCK (KENYA) Hand woven from sisal grass (and some from banana leaf fibres) in three different sizes, these round storage baskets can be put to use all over the home. The Colour Block collection comes in a range of dusky hues, striking brights and earthy tones CLOUD (KENYA) Available in five different sizes, these woven storage baskets make great flower pots, large planters, toy storage and laundry baskets. Sisal grass is dip dyed and tie dyed to achieve the streaked, cloudy effect, so no two baskets are the same. BICYCLE BASKETS (GHANA) A range of colourful patterned, plain and colour block bicycle baskets, supplied with two leather buckle brackets for attaching to handles. Veta vera grass (also known as elephant grass ) grows wild in Ghana and is incredibly sturdy when woven, producing baskets of exceptional balance and structural integrity.

SHOPPERS (KENYA) Ethically handmade from sisal grass (and one from a banana leaf and sisal mix) in the rural Eastern Region of Kenya, in partnership with

BASKET BAGS (KENYA) Inspired by tribal patterns and hand woven by members of the Kamba tribe, each basket bag takes up to six days to complete before

NIFTY KNITS (KENYA) These yarn baskets were traditionally woven by mothers as wedding gifts for their daughters.

7 SHOPPERS (KENYA) Ethically handmade from sisal grass (and one from a banana leaf and sisal mix) in the rural Eastern Region of Kenya, in partnership with a highly skilled, all-female weaving cooperative. All shoppers come in a standard and jumbo size. BASKET BAGS (KENYA) Inspired by tribal patterns and hand woven by members of the Kamba tribe, each basket bag takes up to six days to complete before being fitted with cow-hide straps. The collection comprises both sisal bags and sisal and wool mix bags. NIFTY KNITS (KENYA) These yarn baskets were traditionally woven by mothers as wedding gifts for their daughters. Today these colourful storage baskets, woven by members of the Kamba tribe, can be used all over the home. Each one is unique. Please visit to see the full collection. ENDS FOR PRESS ENQUIRIES: Please contact Holly Dutton press@thebasketroom.com +44 (0) / +44 (0)

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