The journey of Mifuko’s baskets from the artisans' hands in rural Kenya to your home, begins with you. Once there is demand for a certain product, the Finnish team communicates this with the Kenyan team and places an order. The orders are received and divided amongst the artisan groups. Materials are then purchased and shared with the chairladies of each group.
Once the chairladies receive the materials, they organize a meeting with their group members and divide the materials amongst each artisan, with each one receiving the amount necessary to weave the number of baskets that they have been allocated. Then the magic begins!
The talented artisans begin weaving the baskets. The making of a Kiondo basket begins when an artisan woman in rural Kenya crosses two long strands of twine, or warp thread, with two other long strands. Using a traditional weaving technique called lash weave, she weaves two strands over the other pair. Warp threads are added along the way, using from 50 to 100 in a basket. It takes between half a day to two days for the artisan to weave a basket.
Once they are done weaving, the surface of the basket is trimmed with scissors and each artisan’s name is added to their basket. The artisans then take the baskets to one of Mifuko’s warehouses that is located in a small town called Kikima, where the baskets undergo an extensive quality check.
All the baskets that meet our quality standards are then transported to our other warehouse in Machakos town, where the Mifuko labels, tags and barcodes are attached by a specialised team of ladies. Once that is done, another team attaches the leather handles to the baskets marked as market baskets, shoppers (shoulder bags) or hanging baskets.
The baskets are finally counted and packed into boxes. When the order is ready, the pick-up truck from a trusted shipping company picks up the boxes at Machakos warehouse, where the necessary shipping documents and certificates of origin are also handed over to the agent present.
The baskets are then shipped to Finland, where the Finnish team receives them and conducts another quality check before listing them on our website where our wonderful clients can then view and place orders, and we can deliver the orders to our clients’ hands and homes.
Once the chairladies receive the materials, they organize a meeting with their group members and divide the materials amongst each artisan, with each one receiving the amount necessary to weave the number of baskets that they have been allocated. Then the magic begins!
The talented artisans begin weaving the baskets. The making of a Kiondo basket begins when an artisan woman in rural Kenya crosses two long strands of twine, or warp thread, with two other long strands. Using a traditional weaving technique called lash weave, she weaves two strands over the other pair. Warp threads are added along the way, using from 50 to 100 in a basket. It takes between half a day to two days for the artisan to weave a basket.
Once they are done weaving, the surface of the basket is trimmed with scissors and each artisan’s name is added to their basket. The artisans then take the baskets to one of Mifuko’s warehouses that is located in a small town called Kikima, where the baskets undergo an extensive quality check.
All the baskets that meet our quality standards are then transported to our other warehouse in Machakos town, where the Mifuko labels, tags and barcodes are attached by a specialised team of ladies. Once that is done, another team attaches the leather handles to the baskets marked as market baskets, shoppers (shoulder bags) or hanging baskets.
The baskets are finally counted and packed into boxes. When the order is ready, the pick-up truck from a trusted shipping company picks up the boxes at Machakos warehouse, where the necessary shipping documents and certificates of origin are also handed over to the agent present.
The baskets are then shipped to Finland, where the Finnish team receives them and conducts another quality check before listing them on our website where our wonderful clients can then view and place orders, and we can deliver the orders to our clients’ hands and homes.
