JENNIFER KUYPER · FOUNDER & CURATOR
I don't buy
from catalogs.
I travel to the source.
Panama · Colombia · Rwanda · Ghana
THE STORY
In 2012, everyone
thought I was crazy.
In 2012, with twins under a year old, I took over a small basket business called Rainforest Baskets. Everyone thought I was crazy. They were probably right. What I inherited was a product. What I built was something different.
The more I traveled to the source — into Wounaan villages in Panama and Colombia, sitting with weavers in their homes, watching pieces that take months to complete — the more I understood that these weren't objects to be bought and resold. They were the result of cultural knowledge passed through generations and a level of technical skill that has no commercial equivalent.
I stopped thinking like a retailer and started thinking like a curator.
For Rwanda and Ghana, I work directly with the cooperatives and weaving initiatives who have built those relationships on the ground — organizations whose values align with mine and whose standards I trust.
Every piece I carry now is chosen by hand, documented with artisan provenance, and brought back because I believe it deserves a home beyond the community where it was made.
My twins have been on many of those trips to Panama and Colombia. They've met the weavers. They know the masks by name. That's not incidental — it's the whole point of doing this the way we do.
JENNIFER WITH WOUNAAN WEAVERS · PANAMA
The first time I picked up a Wounaan basket, I turned it over looking for the machine that made it. Nothing this precise can be done by hand — until you understand that it is the only way it can be done. JENNIFER KUYPER · DARIÉN, PANAMA
HOW WE CURATE
Why you can trust
what we carry.
For Panama and Colombia, every collection begins with a trip or a meeting with a weaver representative. We've built direct relationships with the weavers and mask makers whose work we carry, and we return to those relationships year after year.
Nothing is bought by the batch. Every basket, mask, and sculptural form is selected one at a time. We look for exceptional technique, cultural integrity, and objects we believe are genuinely worth owning. If a piece isn't extraordinary, it doesn't come home.
Each piece ships with a provenance card — the tribe or cooperative, the materials, the technique, and the cultural context behind the form. When we have the individual weaver's name, it's there too. This isn't a label. It's a record of where the object came from, passed along to its new home.
14-day returns, no questions asked. If a piece arrives and it isn't right for your space, call us. We sort it out. We photograph accurately — but we understand that art of this quality should be seen in person before a final decision.
People assume the masks are carved. When they understand they're woven — the same coil technique as a basket, shaped by hand into a jaguar or a hummingbird — something shifts. They stop seeing decor and start seeing skill. JENNIFER KUYPER · ON EMBERÁ WOVEN ART
THE SIX TRADITIONS
Where we source,
and what each tradition brings.
Four countries. Six distinct traditions. Each with its own materials, time horizons, and a name in the language of the people who built it. What follows is a short field guide — what we carry, where it comes from, and what makes each tradition unmistakable.
Wounaan Baskets
Darién Rainforest · Wounaan people
The Wounaan name for their coil weaving technique — one of the few craft techniques in the Americas with its own Indigenous language term.
Among the most technically accomplished woven objects made anywhere in the world. Under magnification, individual stitches resemble embroidery. Museum-collected globally.
Emberá Woven Art
Darién Rainforest · Emberá people
The Darién palm fiber, coiled and shaped by hand into masks, ceremonial figures, and woven animals. Same coil family as Wounaan, made into three-dimensional form.
Not carved, not painted. Each form is built coil by coil with a simple needle — no mold, no frame. Animal masks embody jaguars, toucans, and hummingbirds; ceremonial figures come in male and female pairs.
Werregue Baskets
Chocó Pacific Rainforest · Wounaan people
The slow-growing palm of the Chocó's mangrove swamps. Bolder, thicker coil than Panama Wounaan work — more sculptural presence.
Bold geometric patterns composed from memory, no template. Roughly thirty to forty percent of pieces incorporate copper wire — an innovation by weavers displaced from the Chocó.
Ticuna Figures
Colombian Amazon · Ticuna people
The Ticuna coming-of-age ceremony. Pucuna dolls represent the ancestral and spiritual figures honored in the ritual — carved, dressed, and painted by hand.
The one tradition we carry that isn't woven. Each figure is carved from balsa, dressed in bark cloth pounded from Amazonian fig trees, and painted with geometric symbols in the traditional four-color palette.
Tall Agaseke
Rural Rwanda · Gahaya Links cooperatives
Rwanda's traditional coil basket — the "basket of peace." Appears on the national seal. Traditionally given at weddings and births.
A double-layer construction — bamboo framework inside, coiled sweetgrass outside. Rarely found at this scale in the US. Sourced through Gahaya Links: 5,000 women, 52 cooperatives, founded after the 1994 genocide as a path to economic independence.
Bolga Sculptural Forms
Bolgatanga, Upper East · Gurune people
Bolgatanga is one of the world's great basket-weaving centers. The tradition spans market totes to architectural floor sculpture.
RFB commissions specifically at the sculptural end of the Bolga tradition — XL forms shaped while the grass is still moist, with untrimmed ends left deliberately proud. Designed to anchor floors, not fill totes. Not available through any other US retailer.
THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE WORK
Every piece has a name
behind it.
WOUNAAN · PANAMA
A master weaver whose baskets take several months to multiple YEARS each.
EMBERÁ · PANAMA
Mask maker, third generation. Each animal carries specific symbolic meaning passed through her family.
GAHAYA LINKS · RWANDA
A member of the Gahaya Links cooperative. Her tall coiled baskets take two months to complete.
FROM THE FIELD
Travel is where RFB truly begins.
The baskets in this collection don't come from workshops or studios. They come from villages, family homes, and quiet places where weaving is part of everyday life. Some visits require hours of travel down rough roads or across rivers. Those conversations shape every piece that becomes part of RFB Woven Art.
DARIÉN PROVINCE · PANAMA
WOUNAAN VILLAGE
ONE OF ONE
Every piece is unique. When it sells, it's gone. The weaver has moved on. There is no reorder.
CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN
Every piece ships with a provenance card — tribe or cooperative, materials, technique, cultural context. A record, not a label.
14-DAY RETURNS
If it isn't right when it arrives, return it within 14 days. No questions. Call us at 505.920.6712.
QUESTIONS WE OFTEN HEAR
What people ask
before they buy.
How do I know these pieces are authentic?
Every piece ships with a provenance card documenting the tribe or cooperative who made it, the materials and technique used, and the cultural context behind the form. Where we have the individual weaver's name, we include it. Our Panama and Colombia pieces are sourced in person — we meet the weavers in their homes, not at trade fairs or wholesale showrooms. For Rwanda and Ghana, we work directly with cooperatives whose values and standards we trust. There are no middlemen between the maker and you.
Why does a basket cost what it costs?
Because it took someone weeks to a year or more to make it, with materials they harvested and dyed by hand, using a technique their family taught them. A fine Wounaan hösig di basket can take a year of sustained work — patterns composed from memory, fibers split to near-thread thinness. Pricing reflects time, skill, scarcity, and the fact that every piece is one of one.
How long does a single piece take to make?
It depends entirely on the tradition. A Ghana XL sculptural basket takes about a week from grass preparation through finishing. A tall Rwandan Agaseke is built over weeks in two complete layers. An Emberá woven mask runs from five days to six months depending on size. A fine Wounaan basket can take a year or more — and the traditional quality test is whether the finished basket holds water.
Are the artisans paid fairly?
Yes — directly. For Panama and Colombia, prices are negotiated in person with the weavers themselves. For Rwanda we source through Gahaya Links, a cooperative founded after the 1994 genocide whose pay structure and standards we've vetted in depth. For Ghana we work directly with the Bolgatanga weavers we commission. There are no middlemen marking up between the maker and you.
Why don't you carry more inventory?
Because every piece is one of one. When something sells, it's gone — the weaver has already moved on to the next piece, which will be different. We sell only what we've personally selected and brought back. There is no reorder, no restock. If something catches your eye, it's worth acting on it.
What if a piece isn't right when it arrives?
14-day returns, no questions asked. We photograph accurately and in real interiors, but we understand that art at this level should be seen in person before a final decision. If it isn't right for your space, call us at 505.920.6712 — Jen picks up directly. We sort it out.
Do you offer trade pricing for interior designers?
Yes. The RFB trade program offers thirty percent trade pricing, no-obligation try-out on selected pieces, and direct sourcing consultation for designers building installations or specifying for clients. Register for trade access, or call directly to talk through a project.
CONTINUE READING
Each tradition, in more depth.
PANAMAhösig di
Wounaan Baskets: Museum-Quality Rainforest Weaving
Stitches so fine they resemble embroidery. The technique with its own Indigenous language term.
READ MORE →
PANAMAChunga
Emberá Woven Art: Masks, Figures & Animal Forms
Not carved. Not painted. Coil weaving from Chunga palm fiber, shaped by hand into three-dimensional form.
READ MORE →
COLOMBIAWerregue
Bold Coil Weaving from the Chocó Rainforest
Wounaan tradition, Colombian character. Achiote, jagua, and turmeric dyes from the rainforest.
READ MORE →
COLOMBIAPelazón
Ticuna Figures: Ceremonial Art from the Colombian Amazon
Carved balsa wood, dressed in yanchama bark cloth, painted with natural Amazon pigments. The Pelazón tradition.
READ MORE →
RWANDAAgaseke
Tall Agaseke: Floor Sculpture from Gahaya Links Weavers
54 to 65 inches. Bamboo framework inside, sweetgrass and sisal outside. Rarely found at this scale.
READ MORE →
GHANABolga
Custom XL Sculptural Forms from Northern Ghana
Wavy silhouettes, hairy textures. Commissioned exclusively for RFB. Not available elsewhere in the US.
READ MORE →FROM JENNIFER
"I built this collection one relationship at a time. My twins have sat in the homes of the people whose work hangs on your wall. That's not a brand story. That's just what happened."
❤ Jennifer
FOUNDER & CURATOR · RFB WOVEN ART
WHERE TO GO FROM HERE
BROWSE
See the collection
One-of-a-kind pieces from Panama, Colombia, Rwanda, and Ghana. Every piece in stock is available now.
TRADE PROGRAM
Interior designers
Trade pricing, early access to new arrivals, and direct sourcing consultation. No obligation to start.
DIRECT CONTACT
Talk to Jennifer
Questions about a specific piece, placement advice, or sizing. Call directly — she picks up. 505.920.6712.