Bloom Flower Plateau | Handwoven Sisal & Sweetgrass Basket
A basket that suggests decoration and utility aren’t separate categories—they’re just different excuses for why we keep objects around.
What It Is:
The Bloom Flower Plateau is a 12-inch handwoven basket from Rwanda, dyed in pink and black with a floral pattern that feels both deliberate and slightly cosmic. Made from sisal wrapped around sweetgrass, it’s designed to be multi-purpose: hang it as wall art, use it as a fruit bowl, or leave it on a table as if you’re curating your own personal anthropology exhibit. Each piece is handmade by women artisans using techniques passed down for generations, making every basket a small variation on the same idea of beauty and permanence.
Why You’ll Actually Use It:
Because baskets are one of the few household objects that manage to be functional, symbolic, and vaguely spiritual all at once. It holds bananas just as easily as it holds the illusion of having a “curated home.” It doesn’t scream for attention, but it does suggest that you care about both aesthetics and ethics—something an mass-produced bowl will never do.
Key Details:
Dimensions: 12" W x 3" H
Material: Locally sourced sisal + sweetgrass
Color: Hand-dyed pink & black
Features: Built-in loop for hanging, one-of-a-kind variations
Care: Spot clean; avoid direct sunlight to preserve color
Impact:
This basket is more than a decorative object—it’s part of a global story about women artisans building futures in places where opportunities are scarce. The artisan sector is the second-largest employer in the developing world, but most women lack access to global markets. By investing 100% of profits into education and entrepreneurship programs, this initiative has supported over 1,100 artisans and 250 youth in Rwanda and Ghana since 2007.
The Bloom Flower Plateau isn’t just handmade décor—it’s proof that even the most ordinary household items can carry history, identity, and intention.
About Powered by People
Powered by People is basically what happens when “shopping small” gets a global operating system. Instead of mass-produced sameness, they connect you with makers who are spinning out hand-dyed textiles, hand-thrown ceramics, and jewelry that feels like it was pulled from an alternate reality where craftsmanship never went out of style. The through-line isn’t just aesthetics—it’s the insistence that every object has both utility and a backstory, often rooted in sustainable practices, reclaimed materials, and cultural traditions that would otherwise get bulldozed by the modern marketplace. In short: they’re trying to prove that conscious consumption doesn’t have to look like homework.