Hand Carved Blackwood Helix Salad Servers

A dramatic set of hand-carved salad servers handmade from blackwood, which is also called mpingo. Since only the core of the blackwood trunk is colored black, many servers will demonstrate a variation of both black and blond wood.

Origin: Kenya

Size: 12"L x 3.5"W x 1"T

Materials: Wood

About blackwood..

Blackwood once grew across Africa, from Senegal to Ethiopia, and down to South Africa. Since blackwood trees are not truly ready for harvest until they are 70-200 years old, over-harvesting has reduced the range of blackwood trees to the savannahs and coastal lowlands of East Africa. The largest stand of blackwood remains in Mozambique, where a civil war during the latter part of the 20th century impeded harvest.

Today, East African conservationists, wood merchants and carvers are working against time to maintain a proper balance of blackwood harvesting. Their goal is to ensure not only the survival of the species, but the integrity of the best trees, since the harvesting of superior mature trees forces new seedlings to come from inferior trees.

Our blackwood products are crafted by fair trade artisans in Kenya and Mozambique who purchase their wood from wood banks and use as much of the wood as possible, often utilizing small scraps to create spoons, spreaders and small sculptures.