Vivre au naturel : Straw and grasses, a winning combination

Elephant grass basketry

A designer trained in Eindhoven, Inès Bressand (Galerie Sinople) creates accessories and furniture using elephant grass, a giant grass found in the savannahs of South Asia and Africa, with long stems that can grow up to 4 metres high. “Traditionally, basket-making techniques are used to make baskets. For my part, I’ve been developing this skill since I met a group of women from the north of Ghana in 2014,’ explains the young woman. At first we made bags, with new collections every year, but this long-term collaboration has enabled us to develop increasingly complex shapes, such as baskets, trays, shelves and cabinets. Together, we innovate with many hands. The difficulty lies in finding ways to ‘stiffen’ the weave so that we can create furniture. Straw, leather and sewing thread are the three ingredients that make these lightweight furniture items possible.”