While in Hanoi several years ago, we visited the newly opened Museum of Ethnology, devoted to the Hill tribes of Vietnam. The focal point as you enter the exhibit is an itinerant basket merchant’s fully loaded bicycle. Baskets of every shape and size fan out like a peacock’s tail, almost obscuring the bicycle itself. It’s a truly marvelous sight for a basket-lover; a sculpture of baskets.
What is the appeal – in our case the often-irresistible appeal – of Asian baskets? To the uninitiated, a basket is a basket, woven bamboo. What’s the big deal?
To us, Asian baskets are wonderful creations of delicious variety, confected with great skill, redolent with the flavor of the culture from which they spring. All Asian baskets are utilitarian. Therefore, the weaver’s creation must be beautiful but above all serve its owner well. Agricultural baskets should be large, sturdy, yet portable and light weight. Religious offering baskets require an elegance which states that they belong to the spiritual side of life.
Clothes storage baskets call for a tight weave and well-fitting lids to keep out bugs, cooking smells and damp. There are also food baskets, fish traps, baskets for transporting fighting cocks to matches and live pigs to market. The list is endless, and the materials employed varied: bamboo, rattan, vine, palm, and banana leaf.
The shapes of baskets are beautifully utilitarian, the textures and weaving patterns a pleasure to see and touch, and the patina speaks to us of the life of its owner. Add to this the fact that basket weaving is a dying art, and you will understand why we find them irresistible and why Banana Tree boasts an exceptional selection from Burma and the Golden Triangle of Thailand.