A sweetgrass basket is not a decoration you buy once and forget. It is a handmade object built from coiled sweetgrass, bulrush, pine needles, and palmetto leaf by artisans continuing a coiled-basket tradition that traces directly back to West African basket-making knowledge, carried to the South Carolina Lowcountry and preserved for centuries by Gullah Geechee families. This guide teaches you how to care for one properly, so it lasts for decades and can be passed down rather than discarded.
You will learn how to handle a new basket, where and how to store it, how to clean it safely without damaging the coiled fibers, how to manage humidity and light exposure, how to repair minor wear, and how to recognize the difference between a handmade sweetgrass basket and a mass-produced imitation. This is a practical care manual meant to help you protect a piece of living craft and understand the community and history behind it.
A sweetgrass basket is not a decoration you buy once and forget. It is a handmade object built from coiled sweetgrass, bulrush, pine needles, and palmetto leaf by artisans continuing a coiled-basket tradition that traces directly back to West African basket-making knowledge, carried to the South Carolina Lowcountry and preserved for centuries by Gullah Geechee families. This guide teaches you how to care for one properly, so it lasts for decades and can be passed down rather than discarded.
You will learn how to handle a new basket, where and how to store it, how to clean it safely without damaging the coiled fibers, how to manage humidity and light exposure, how to repair minor wear, and how to recognize the difference between a handmade sweetgrass basket and a mass-produced imitation. This is a practical care manual meant to help you protect a piece of living craft and understand the community and history behind it.