Product Catalog » Pandan
Pandanus is a genus of monocots with about 600 known species. Plants vary in size from small shrubs less than 1 metre (3.3 ft) tall, up to medium-sized trees 20 metres (66 ft) tall, typically with a broad canopy and moderate growth rate.Pandan is used for handicrafts. Craftswomen collect the pandan leaves from plants in the wild. Only the young leaves are cut so the plant will naturally regenerate. The young leaves are sliced in fine strips and sorted for further processing. Later, the weavers will produce basic pandan mats of standard size or roll the leaves into pandan ropes for other designs. This is followed by the coloring process, in which the pandan mats are placed in drums with water-based colors. After drying, the colored mats are shaped into the final product, for instance a place mat or a jewelry box. Final color touch-ups are applied to assure a product of high quality. The whole process from harvesting of raw materials to finished product is handled by craftswomen, making this a truly community-based handicraft product.