We believe in the philosophy of fair work and respect for nature.
That is why all Victoria Handmade pieces represent the ethics with which they were made.
Know that we make the conscious decision to only use renewable and sustainable fibers woven by our own hands. The reed, our raw material, born wildly in nature without pesticides or human hand every single year.
Since I was 5 years old I have been working at portuguese reed basketry without receiving a penny. Why the youngest are not interested in crafts and the culture dies in the hands of the oldest? Because it has to be prized for its true value.
With Victoria handmade project, we revolutionized this market just by making it fair: with all the rights of the worker safeguarded, something never before achieved in this ancestral art. We guarantee that we were the first, and the few.
Noble Fibers, Noble Ways
The Reed
We deliver a imperfect perfection, as mother nature itself dictates. Our reeds grow up freely in wetlands of Portugal and are picked up by us in the summer once a year, for the whole year. Its original color is a strong green that is dried naturally over the strong summer sun to its cream hue so we can work with it.
Eco-Friendly Leather
The leather we use is of high-quality vegetable tanning. It is genuine: a reuse of food-purpose traceable cow leather - instead of ending up in landfills, it is reused for accessories by an environmentally friendly vegetable tanning. A genuine eco friendly, toxic-free leather that displays the material in its most natural state, maintaining flaws and natural marks. We carefully select the most beautiful ones for you.
Natural Pigments
From its natural cream color, we dye the reeds from the most colorful to the most neutral! But being a plant, the reed does not adhere to all type of colors. Also this singularity makes that slight differences in shade from reed to reed happens due to its uniqueness.
Jute
Keeping faithful to the ancestral processes, we sew all our baskets with jute, a resistant thread made of natural fibers that is also dyed according to the color of your piece.
Wicker
Reliable to traditional basket carrycot, we use wicker to make the wings of the ‘nostalgic baskets’ collections, being also a material from nature resistant to weight and time.
This implies that some cracks and openings in the wicker be characteristic of the handle, making your basket even more unique.
