Basket work is the most diffuse handicraft in Sardinia. There are two reasons for this. First of all the raw material is readily available in the ponds that dot the Sardinian landscape and secondly basketwork is relatively simple in terms of the tools required.

Images of handicraft
  For this reason baskets were the most common household item certainly more common than pottery which required more technology and less widely available raw materials.
Barter and exchange led to baskets becoming a product of trade.
The baskets on sale in the shops today are the same as those that are still used in many homes in Sardinia to keep linen in or as containers for bread or biscuits or other products. Nowadays the baskets are not only seen as simple containers but are also made with designs that are pleasing to the eye.
The designs are predominantly geometric but Flora and Fauna designs are also quite common.
The shape of the Sardinian baskets depends on the raw material used.
Straw, asphodel, raffia, palm and wicker are all used in Sardinian basketry.
Sardinian basketry can be divided into four large groups which also correspond to different geographical areas.
  Images of handicraft
Images of handicraft
  In Sinnai and in San Vero Milis the raw materials used are reeds and straw which are collected after the harvest. The traditional baskets of these areas are made using a spiral construction while the decorations, which are made using similar materials or black and red cotton, are added after or during the baskets construction.
The most typical shape of these baskets is that of an upside down bell, even if some of the baskets made using this technique have different shapes and are used as furnishings or wall decorations.

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