Crushing on ... African Baskets

My birthday is just around the corner and you know what that means, piles and piles of wish lists. Haha! Please know that these sorts of things are always for fun, never a true expectation. If that were the case, my family would not be too thrilled, let me tell ya. :) 

(for a full view of wish list items please see Pinterest page tagged here - husband)

Now more on topic, my Granna and Garthie are coming to visit us for the entire summer and arrive in June (they live in South Africa). As is custom, they have requested wish lists from each of us girls and have been filling their suitcases for our Christmas in June extravaganza! My mom has a few flat baskets from SA and of course, I've seen plenty of them in my many ... many years, but now I'm finally dying to own a few and display them in my home. I'd love to hang them like this and hope that my Aunty Di will find some at one of the markets she's planning to breeze through. Oh the life of a flea market hopper!

There is a fabulous website for us American-sters called Baskets from Africa and they have so many exquisite options. The site seems like a wonderful place to purchase fair trade items from Africa with the intention of furthering the economic development of weavers from several countries. Not too cheap, if you're longing for a small collection, but that's where my peeps on the other side of the world may have some luck. We'll see ... :) 

Tonga baskets

Botswana baskets

Uganda baskets

Swazi Sisal baskets

Aren't the colors stunning? I think these would all be amazing in any shape or form in a home, as both beautiful and functional art. 

{Baskets from Africa}