Articles - 24 July 2007

Tjanpi

Tjanpi (pronounced 'J-um-Py') is the Aboriginal women's basket weaving project and enterprise which started in the Central Western Desert region of Australia. Although basket weaving is relatively new to the Central Desert people, Anangu women have always made several items from fibres; hair belts, head bands, shoes from bark and feathers, and hair string skirts or face coverings for modesty and ceremonial purposes.

Ngaanyatjarra communities in Western Australia were the first to start weaving in 1995 after the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women's Council initiated the program in the region. The NPY Women's Council then continued to give further support to the Ngaanyatjarra women through marketing, training and exhibitions of the artworks.

Today, basket weaving is still spreading further and further across the desert with different regions developing their own unique styles. Tjanpi is now a small enterprise which produces baskets, beads, bush medicine and bushtucker at wholesale prices. All their products are freighted worldwide, with all profits from sales going back into further development of the project. Visit Tjanpi website

Beanies, baskets and bushtucker

A unique opportunity to spend time with traditional Pitjantjatjara women and share their skill and knowledge as internationally renowned weavers and spinners. The ladies will teach you how to crochet mukata (beanies) or weave tjanpi (grass) baskets while sharing stories and bush tucker around the campfire.

Workshops are situated in the craft room of the women's cell block in the Old Alice Springs Gaol, where inmates once learnt handicrafts from the matron.

Dates: Mondays and Thursdays, 9am - 12pm.
Venue: National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame, Old Alice Springs Gaol, 2 Stuart Terrace
Cost: $77 (includes materials and morning tea)
Email: tjanpi@npywc.org
Telephone: 0408 436 928

Also see: 716 craft·design Issue #23 August 2007
Special issue on Indigenous craft and design