Description
Natural Storage Basket
Our baskets all have a unique story. Yaré baskets are handcrafted by Colombian people from the Wacará tribe. They live a few hours from Mitu, the largest city of the Vaupes department, in the Sout-East of the country. Located close to the Brazilian border, this is one of the most remote and underdeveloped regions of Colombia.
The native Wacará community keeps living in a very traditional way. Their main daily activities continues to be cultivating and gathering food. It is a very small community that consists only of a few families, and the way the make baskets, their design, is specific to them. Because of this, choosing a Yaré basket will add unique touch to your home decoration.
Basket weaving is a complementary activity for people from this community. But the village’s economic exchanges with the outside are mainly based on this activity. Traditionally, baskets were made for people to carry loads of all kinds on their head with a strap that would go around their forehead. Even though baskets are sold as storage baskets, Wacará people keep using them today for carrying purpose, mainly Manioc, a root that constitutes their main source of food.
The origin of Yaré
Yaré, or Mimbre Yaré, is the name of the natural fiber Wacará artisans use to make the baskets. They inherited the usage of this material from an older native community called “Macu”. Unfortunately, because of the deforestation, it has become more difficult to find: Today artisans have to walk for more than a day to find the right kind of fiber.
Please note, as this is a handmade product, dimensions & colour may vary from those shown in the photographs.
