Park RoadBasketsA living African craft
Basket weaving grew from everyday needs: gathering crops, carrying produce, storing food and liquids, serving meals and organising the home. Across generations, practical knowledge became a recognisable art—expressed through shape, pattern, colour and the steady rhythm of handwork.
Basketry is one of Africa’s enduring functional crafts. Methods and forms vary by community, region and available fibre. Skills are learned through demonstration and practice, allowing traditional coiling, plaiting and twining techniques to continue in useful contemporary pieces.
Today the same language of natural fibre appears in storage baskets, furniture, tables and decorative objects. Every handmade variation—slight shifts in colour, texture or weave—is part of the character of the material and the maker’s touch.
The material
Hyphaene coriacea is a fan palm native to eastern and southern parts of Africa. It is known as Murara in Shona and as the southern Ilala or lala palm in English. Its young, pliable leaves can be prepared into fine, strong strips suitable for basketry, mats and woven household pieces.
The natural fibre has a warm cream colour with subtle variations created by the leaf itself. The exact preparation and weave differ between makers and regions.
Weaving styles
Different constructions create different strengths, surfaces and shapes. The choice depends on the product, the prepared fibre and the tradition of the weaver.
Prepared palm strips wrap and stitch around a core, building the basket in a continuous spiral.
Flat strips cross over and under one another to form firm panels, bases and geometric surfaces.
Flexible strands twist around upright elements, locking the structure together row by row.
Leaf preparation
The process can change from one weaving tradition to another, but this is a clear guide to the journey from palm to pliable weaving fibre.
Young, pliable palm leaves are selected and cut with care.
Hard ribs and rough edges are removed; leaves are split lengthwise into even strips.
The strips are placed in water, or gently boiled in some traditions, to clean and soften the fibre.
Prepared strips are dried, often in the sun, then sorted by width and quality.
Before weaving, the dry strips are placed in water again to restore flexibility and make them easier to shape.
The maker builds the base, sides and rim, keeping tension even and finishing every edge by hand.
Craft traditions differ by region and maker. This overview honours the wider heritage of Ilala palm basketry rather than claiming one single universal method. Palm reference ↗
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