Sabah Baskets

Sabah Baskets

Baskets is one of Sabahan traditional handicraft that used in their everyday chores. Everything from fruits, to firewood, to paddy stalks are transported in these baskets strapped on their backs, leaving their hands free to carry even more load.

Sabahan baskets are made from bamboo, rattan and bark. These baskets have now been adapted for more commercial demand, and they make useful pen and pencil holders, as well as vases for dried flowers. For the Dusun/Kadazan living at the foot of Mount Kinabalu, they make a particularly elegant basket called the wakid.

This back carrier is cylindrical at the base and has a flared-out top. The body is made of pieces of carefully split bamboo which are tightly fitted at the elongated base. The spokes of the bamboo flare at the mouth of the piece. The ends are secured, lashed individually to two or more rattan hoop using split rattan twine. The body is further reinforced with two or more layers of twine tying the spokes at different heights, which gives a particularly decorative effect. The base is laced with rattan on an overlay of a strip of thin bark. A circular piece of bark lines the bottom of the basket. Usually a spate is attached to make carrying more comfortable. A pair of shoulder straps made either of woven split rattan or barks cloth and the two ends of a forehead strap flank the spate to complete the form and function of this basket.

The wakid is in great demand for its style and grace, as a useful carrier and container, and as a household ornament. Wakid are now popular in miniature for the tourist market.