Bowl

Domestic use. Weaving is traditionally done by women, and the knowledge is passed down from mother to daughter. For the Fulani, grass weaving is vital because the items they create can be used for shelter, indicate prosperity, aid chores, and be sold at market to generate income. Fulani bowls are kept on the one table in the household and used most days to serve breakfast, dinner or serve other items. Some say the fullness of the table (full with pots, plates etc.) represents the mother's prosperity and fertility; a full table then represents a fortunate woman. When a daughter marries the mother will give her items from her table. This is symbolic of passing on her prosperity into the new marriage and simultaneously symbolizing the mother’s decline in prosperity.

Grass weaving involves taking several thin leaves of the same length and using one of them to bind the outside of the other leaves. This creates a strand which can then be bent around other bound leaves in order to interlock and create a structured weave. This method does not require a loom or tools.

Grass bowl with a tall, wide cylindrical base and a deep, wide bowl. There are four sets of two triangles wrapped over rim; six are made of a different, darker type of grass; two of a lighter material then the bowl. Twisted grass, then woven in lattice-wrap weave.