Fans and basketry have always walked hand to hand. The light vegetable fibers used in basket weaving make for an ideal hand fan which can easily be moved to and fro, creating an airflow that cools the skin. But there is more. The word “fan” comes from the Latin “vannus” which literally means “basket”. The Romans would use baskets in winnowing: they created great gusts of air that would blow away the chaff, separating it from the grain.
Hand fans have been in use since 4000 BCE, as the findings in the tomb of King Tut suggest. But it wasn’t only the ancient Egyptians that had to rely on fans to withstand the heat of the sun. Ancient Greeks had their share of hot weather as well, and their handheld fan was called a rhipis (ῥιπίς). Way further East, the Chinese constructed fans out of woven bamboo, wood or paper (2nd century BCE). In India, fan mechanics were even more elaborate: a “punkah”, a large rectangular fan made of matting, would hang from the ceiling, while a servant called “punkah wallah” would be busy moving the cord that kept it in motion.
A coiled “lollipop” and two plaited “flags”.
In a continent as warm as Africa it is understandable that people rely on fans to help them go about their day. Moreover, there is hardly an African country that does not display a group of indigenous people that exhibit some form of basket craft. These hand-woven straw fans come from West Africa and Djibouti and are notable for their intricacy of shape and weave.
Many oriental and European fans- folding or rigid- follow the shape of a circular sector. However, these African items form either a full circle or a full rectangle, with a long stick-like handle attached to it. The “lollipop” fan is made through the traditional basket making process of coiling, where coils of indefinite length are stitched together, each turn patiently secured by binding and stitching it to the previous one. The two “flag” fans are made by plaiting, that is laying out two shorts of elements of strips one at right angle to the other and interlacing them so that each strip passes over the other one. The plaits can be worked on a horizontal/vertical axis, or, as seen in the flag shaped fan, diagonally, creating a fishbone pattern.
By laying two differently colored yet interlocking sets of elements, the experienced basket maker creates patterns which are revealed as the process goes on. Simple patterns are stripes and checks, but elaborate grids, dots and zig zags are also on the menu. In our case, these motives break up the fan’s flat surface and underline its decorative, rather than simply practical, function. (Other pics of the three items to be placed in this section)
INNOVATION VERSUS TRADITION, CRAFT VERSUS TRADE
As seen above, these fans are made in techniques hardly straying from norms developed ages ago. However, given the appeal of African basket making to people of the “outside” and the degree to which basketry cooperatives bring income to rural areas, innovation is inevitable. New weaving materials have been introduced, “market friendly” designs and colors have been employed, and the production of items of purely aesthetic function-works of art bound for museums-has been observed. In the eternal struggle between conservation and innovation, modern African basket weaving can be viewed as a dynamic process.
