Giving from the heart: We received a package this week from a gentleman we met by chance in New York last summer. After finishing our second day at the Summer 2010 JA show at the Javits Center, our taxi driver asked “Why do you have this West African basket with you?” The driver was referring to a medium sized sweet grass fanner basket we used in our display and made by weavers from South Carolina. Curious about his question our response was “How do you know about the baskets”. He proceeded to tell us that he was from small town in Mauritania, on the West African Coast of the Atlantic. From there he explained that the weave of the basket is coiled, a design from many centuries past, and is used not only in harvesting rice, but for cooking rice (steaming tool) and for making couscous from rice flour. A pasta like dough is made by combining rice flour, water and eggs and then rolled around the coiled pattern in the basket until pellets break and form. The result is couscous which can be cooked immediately or dried for future meals. Couscous and rice are daily diet staples.
Our conversation continued and we explained the goal of Sweet Charleston Designs and our promoting awareness of the art form of Sweet Grass Basketry through our interruptive jewelry designs. He asked to exchange contact information and let us know that he would like to share with us a basket from his country.
To our surprise we received a hand woven coiled basket from Babe, the taxi driver, along with several other items from his town. His mother brought the gifts with her from Mauritania, as she is now visiting with his family in New York. Included in the package were hand made and naturally dyed leather pillow cushions with African art patterns, hand made brass jewelry, the baskets and a small wooden box with hand tooled brass work.
This was a gift from the heart and is another step in our journey. Take a few moments and Google Mauritania and you will understand how humbled we are by this act of kindness. Babe is from the city of Kiffa. The country is one of the poorest in Africa and it is shocking to see what the per capita income is per individual. The history of the Lowcountry sweet grass basket weavers in the US took place over three hundred and fifty years ago, but a similar story exist in Mauritania today. The government declared slavery as illegal in 2007! That was a shocking bit of information. If your curiosity takes you a bit further, we recommend looking at rice being re-introduced for daily consumption and sale in Uganda. The colorful photo’s are beautiful and a perfect illustration about how the people work together to over come difficulties that are beyond our wildest dreams. We will share our gifts from Babe with you via photo’s and will share with our Lowcountry friends as well.
Seewee Bay Collection
The Essence of Lowcountry Elegance
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Sweet Charleston
Mrs. Obama will be receiving an original pendant necklace from Sweet Charleston Designs. The Seewee Bay Collection pendant, complimented with a traditional 18 inch sterling silver Charleston Rice Bead Chain, is hand woven with 18k gold over sterling. (see photo)
The collection is an interpretive tribute to the historical art form of sweet grass basketry found in the Lowcountry of the US (Wilmington NC to Jacksonville FL). The craft of sweet grass basketry dates back over 350 years in the US, and examples of the art are currently on tour at the Smithsonian African American Museum in Washington DC: "The Grass Roots Exhibit". The exhibits last tour stop will be in NYC on 5th Avenue when the new Museum for African Art opens fall of 2011.
Other news....
Sweet Charleston Designs, at the suggestion of the US Department of State, donated a Sweet Grass Basket purchased and signed by weavers from Mt. Pleasant South Carolina who are descendants of the Manigualt Family. This basket is to be given as a diplomatic gift, by the President and Mrs. Obama when they travel post election to India and Asia. This is an honor for Sweet Charleston Designs to have such a small role of service, yet marks the fulfillment of one of the companies goals of bringing global awareness to the oldest documented African American Art Form. We learned about Mrs. Obama's great-great grandfather J. Robinson while touring the Rice Museum in Georgetown SC. Mr. Robinson is from the Lowcountry and is linked to Friendfield Plantation, where sweet grass baskets were woven to assist with rice harvesting. Sweet grass baskets are woven and sold by the highly talented weavers whose ancestors were once enslaved persons from West Africa.
If you visit the Charleston Area, please stop by an visit the various Sweet Grass Weavers. Our purchase was made from a stand on Highway 17, before the Seewee Post near Awendaw SC and is located on the left if going North, just past the Bulls Bay Golf Club.
Sweet Charleston Designs: www.sweetcharlestondesigns.com. Made in the USA
The collection is an interpretive tribute to the historical art form of sweet grass basketry found in the Lowcountry of the US (Wilmington NC to Jacksonville FL). The craft of sweet grass basketry dates back over 350 years in the US, and examples of the art are currently on tour at the Smithsonian African American Museum in Washington DC: "The Grass Roots Exhibit". The exhibits last tour stop will be in NYC on 5th Avenue when the new Museum for African Art opens fall of 2011.
Other news....
Sweet Charleston Designs, at the suggestion of the US Department of State, donated a Sweet Grass Basket purchased and signed by weavers from Mt. Pleasant South Carolina who are descendants of the Manigualt Family. This basket is to be given as a diplomatic gift, by the President and Mrs. Obama when they travel post election to India and Asia. This is an honor for Sweet Charleston Designs to have such a small role of service, yet marks the fulfillment of one of the companies goals of bringing global awareness to the oldest documented African American Art Form. We learned about Mrs. Obama's great-great grandfather J. Robinson while touring the Rice Museum in Georgetown SC. Mr. Robinson is from the Lowcountry and is linked to Friendfield Plantation, where sweet grass baskets were woven to assist with rice harvesting. Sweet grass baskets are woven and sold by the highly talented weavers whose ancestors were once enslaved persons from West Africa.
If you visit the Charleston Area, please stop by an visit the various Sweet Grass Weavers. Our purchase was made from a stand on Highway 17, before the Seewee Post near Awendaw SC and is located on the left if going North, just past the Bulls Bay Golf Club.
Sweet Charleston Designs: www.sweetcharlestondesigns.com. Made in the USA
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