FROM THE FIELDS OF COLOMBIA

Top contemporary designer Sebastian Herkner has recently designed new a range of baskets for the design brand, ames. Named FIBRA, these newly commissioned baskets are made by local craftworkers in a small village called Carinza located in the Boyacá province of Colombia. Made using only traditional weaving techniques, these new baskets come from harvesting an exceptionally tall-growing kind of grass called esparto grass. This particular material grows wild at a staggering height of 2,600 metres. Once it's collected from the land and brought to ames's local manufacturer, it's dried and dyed using mainly natural materials. Columbian-born CEO of ames, Ana María Calderón Kayser, travelled to Colombia with Herkner to find a suitable location for production and, most importantly, to study the material and production process thoroughly before using it to create their simple and elegant baskets. Forming a part of the "ames sala by sebastian herkner" line of products at ames, these basketry creations are accompanied by range of homeware pieces including woollen throws and rugs, cushions with macramé ornaments, ceramics made from black terracotta, felt bowls and a woven-plastic furniture line suitable for outdoor use. Kayser founded the ames company in 2006 with the aim of developing furniture and interior accessories destined to touch the hearts and minds of modern cosmopolitans, striving to define her brand by embracing her own diverse cultural influences. Now, more than ten years after setting up shop, ames presented new work at IMM Cologne and Maison & Objet Paris earlier this year, debuting the arrival of FIBRA baskets in the new cobre colour (meaning copper). Available in three different sizes and in a natural shade, as well as in dark red and in black, these handwoven baskets are a mark of valuing traditional craft techniques, and working with the wonderfully impressive materials that nature has to offer.   http://www.ames-shop.de/#emotion--start http://www.sebastianherkner.com/