This colorful basket featured on our third banner is an Imbenge Basket, a creation of the Zenzulu Hardwire Weaving Group of South Africa. The artist is Nokuthula Zulu.
Imbenge, (beer pot covers) were traditionally woven from grass or palm. With modernization came multicolored telephone wire. Zulu nightwatchmen began weaving the telephone wire around their traditional sticks to relieve boredom during their long shifts. Soon the material was adopted by basket weavers.