About the Maker: Andrea Cayetano-Jefferson
Sweetgrass Baskets
One of the oldest art forms. A basket like these can take up to 12 hours to create and is done completely by hand.
An art form brought over from enslaved people in Africa, sweetgrass basket weaving is integral to Gullah history. Taking strands of sweetgrass and a bent tip weaving tool, Andrea Cayetano-Jefferson and her family spend hours weaving intricate sweetgrass baskets. They have created a small business on this sweetgrass basket weaving in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina and has continued the family tradition that has been a part of them for generations — 6 generations to be exact! They are now sold on Etsy and the current highest price of a basket?? $12,000! Impressively, some of her families work can be found at the Smithsonian National Museum of African History and Culture. A basket like the ones pictured above can take as long as 12 hours to create by hand and is a 2 day process!
These baskets are sold at Binya Hilton Head on 556 Spanish Wells Road, Hilton Head Island, SC. Learn more about the maker, Andrea Cayetano-Jefferson and her family below!
ABC News 4 in Charleston did an interview and wonderful spot on the process and their recent expansion. Watch the interview and spot here on ABC.
Circle Creative Collective recently sat down with Andrea to do an interview. Here’s a few excerpts of her interview:
CCC: How much time do each of you dedicate per day (or week) to weaving?
ANDREA: The average medium sweet grass basket takes about 8-10 hours to complete. We normally weave about 10-12 hours a day 5 or 6 days a week.
CCC: Do you experiment with different styles or mostly stick to traditional ones that were passed down to you?
ANDREA: I normally make simple styles and very few traditional baskets. Most traditional basket styles are very intricate and require lots of practice. I've always been "the breadbasket person". My bread baskets and bowls are what I'm good at so I stick to that. Mommy/Martha on the other hand makes whatever comes to mind. She sometimes incorporates old and new styles together.
CCC: Do you feel weaving/creativity is a spiritual act? Or more like a meditation? Just craft? Or art?
ANDREA: I feel like weaving is relaxing and like meditation. Mom believes that weaving baskets is more spiritual. The Bible speaks of baby Moses being found in a basket in bulrushes. One of Mom's favorite baskets to weave is an oval shaped basket made of all bulrushes which she calls a Moses Basket.
CCC: Do you sing certain songs or listen to certain music when you weave?
ANDREA: I listen to hip hop and rap music or watch t.v. when I'm weaving. I don't like mosquitoes or Charleston heat so I weave mostly indoors. Mom likes music, and to be outdoors. She usually is outdoors from dawn til dusk. Mom listens to Gospel most mornings and southern soul music throughout the day. If she weaves indoors she watches Westerns. My nephew says, “Granny! Baskets and cowboys all day!”
CCC: Does your family share any rituals or traditions before you begin to weave?
ANDREA: We don't have any rituals or traditions that we do prior to weaving. We just give thanks to God for another day on Earth, for health, and strength.
CCC: Has it been hard to convince the younger generations that this is a valuable line of work and an important carrier of cultural traditions?
ANDREA: As far as the younger generations; is difficult to get them onboard with this tradition. I personally have struggled with the decision to continue weaving baskets. I didn't want this to define my life. But I've learned to embrace my superpower. I can turn grass into art. Being a young basketweaver was once taboo and shunned upon. We were considered Gullah Geechee: country, uneducated, lacking understanding, or the workforce, and poor. All of these thoughts and comments are totally false but still are the beliefs of many in the Gullah community.
CCC: Are there particular stories your elders passed down to you about weaving and do you like to share these with the younger generations? This/these could be a myth, fairy tale, or family story.
ANDREA: Our family story starts out along highway 17N in Mount Pleasant. My grandmother Rosa (like most children her age then) didn't learn to read or write and had a third grade education. She had to leave school to help her mother Martha Barnwell weave beautiful baskets. My grandmother taught her 8 kids (6 girls and 2 boys) to weave baskets as well. My grandfather Stephen was never educated. He drove cement trucks just about all of his life. They managed to raise their family, build a home (that we all grew up in), and taught us work ethics. We were taught as children "man dat don work don eat," meaning everyone is expected to help the family. I tell my kids the same thing at least once a week. My fondest memories are of summertime as a kid at my grandparents’ house. The whole family (aunts, uncles, cousins) would come together (it seemed like every night) to sit on the front porch to weave baskets. That's when I took to weaving baskets. I didn't like bugs so I would sit on the porch floor next to my mom and aunt Linda and use the sweetgrass and pine needles they dropped to weave my own baskets. They saw my interest and the rest is history.
To read the full interview and learn more about Andrea and her family, visit: https://www.circlecreativecollective.org/new-blog/weaving-traditions-an-interview-with-basketmaker-andrea-cayetano-jeffersonnbsp
