-
Straw Furniture Development
Alexandro and his gang have started weaving our dining furniture. I had a look yesterday at the progress. I pass them every morning when I go to the local bakery to fetch the morning bread. The frame is made of steel concrete reinforcement and I think Alexandro welds this himself. He is a very positive guy, thinks solutions, with a measuring tape. We had dome difficulty when I arrived with my Western axonometrics, but when he took up his measuring tape things were fine. There is only one fault from my drawings, but that can be solved. The chairs are supposed to be light and the back has extruding metall, since I want to demonstrate the use of material while it is easy to lift the chairs. Here is a picture of one of the guys showing me the situation, and half woven seat on one of the chairs.
Furniture out of local straw
Furniture here is very simple if you like. The guys weave it out on the street, one understands the process immediately by looking at them. Anyone can come with a design, a drawing or just an idea and they tailor it for them.Since we are settling in here in Mapto, we need furniture, and what better than trying out the local production method. I have made some simple illustrations after looking at the guys up on the corner of Av. Lenin and Av. 24 July. They sit there all day weaving furniture. The material is local straw, that surely grows in salt water since the bed that Andri has got smells like the beach. But this is possible to warnish out if people do not like the sea smell.
I am going to investigate further the process, try to be allowed to come along to the guys that weld together the concrete steel reinforcement that they use for frame. But the straw is also very strong material on its own although it does not take structural forces. But this I can find out better later. The huts we stayed in last weekend in the small island of Inacha were made of the same straw material and protected us well from the torrential rain that came down in the middle of the night. Here are some images of the production and the dealings with the leader of the gang. Manucho came along with me to help with the language.
