How Did Brooms Become the New Ceramics?
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your account’s‘Saved for Later’section.
Comment
A while back,T’s former editor Deborah Needleman posted apictureon Instagram of a woman in Jaipur, India, holding a broom. Thebroomis unusual: no handle, with bristles several feet long that trail almost elegantly across the floor. Her followers were, to put it mildly, enamored. “Breathtaking broom,” commented one. “Like a gorgeous khaki tassel,” wrote another.
A couple of months later, Needleman took a trip to an Appalachian folk school where she spent a week learning to craft brooms herself. “I found the brooms beautiful,” she wrote of the experience inT. Still, she adds: “Nearly all brooms today are unremarkable objects mass-produced in Mexico, [besides] a small number of people in North America devoted to handcrafting them. The makers run the gamut from Americana buffs to hippie holdouts, and the brooms are mostly minimalist Shaker or backwoods Appalachian in style.”
Members of that small but budding number of people include Erin Rouse, who used to work in the style department atMartha Stewart Livingmagazine and recently launched a line of handmade brooms called Custodian; one comes dressed in a pale-pink skirt made of pleated silk. In San Francisco, artist Hannah Beatrice Quinn sells sculptural brooms with pinky-orange fir bristles and mint-coloreddustpans. Multidisciplinary artist Cynthia Main crafts quirky, thumb-size brooms laced together with blue thread (others have two heads), and Brooklyn artist Ariele Alasko carves the handles of hers intosquigglesandpyramids. “Furnishing Utopia” — an exhibition New York City curated by Design Within Reach — currently has no less than three brooms for sale on its site: a tall broom made of beech and horsehair by Pratt graduate Tom Bonamici, a dustpan designed byUrbancase, and a series of brushes with green, blue, and yellow handles by artistZoe Mowat. In other words: The same artisans who would’ve taken upceramicssix years ago are now binding and carving brooms by hand.
“I definitely think that there’s a broom scene brewing,” says Rouse. “Though it still feels early days to me. American broom-making is an old-school craft, and requires specific and challenging-to-track-down equipment (and knowledge).” Plus, she adds, “Brooms are not a proven cool object — like a ceramic vessel, or a textile wall hanging. I think — I hope! — that will start to change soon.” In Brooklyn, at least, of course, that change is already afoot. HomeStories, in Brooklyn Heights, sells Moroccan-made palm-leaf brooms described, on its site, as both “poetic and functional.” And half a mile south,Salter House— owned by Goods for the Study’s Sandeep Salter — has an entire wall devoted to stylish sweepers, including a handmade birch porchbroomfrom Sweden, a goat-hairdust broom, a Japanese-made handbroomwith a handsome leather strap, and acarpet beatermade of woven rattan.
Like any handmade item, these brooms are expensive. But for those who value endurance (handcrafted brooms are built to last, unlike their mass-produced, plastic counterparts) and aesthetics (these brooms should be displayed, rather than jammed hastily in the closet) the price seems worth it. “People tend to ask, ‘Are your brooms sculptures or tools?’” Rouse says. “A nice broom is right at the intersection. Which might seem strange now. But I think soon, it won’t.”
New! You can now save this product for later.
Colorful, vintage-inspired brooms made by Andrée Jardin, who has been making wood brushes in Brittany, France, for some 60 years. Jardin’s husband, George-Rene Julio, was an apprentice to a brush-maker in Nantes.
New! You can now save this product for later.
A more subdued option also made by Jardin, made with thermally treated, humidity-resistant French ash wood.
New! You can now save this product for later.
This broom, recommended by Erin Rouse, is handmade in Morocco from eucalyptus wood and palm leaf.
New! You can now save this product for later.
Rouse also recommended these horsehair brushes, which the Laundress claims are more effective than a vacuum and will last a lifetime.
New! You can now save this product for later.
It takes Cynthia Main — who is currently an artist in residence at Gallery 123 in Berea, Kentucky — three weeks to handcraft these quirky, double-headed brooms.
New! You can now save this product for later.
Tom Bonamici is a designer specializing in furniture and timber framing, and he received his master’s of industrial design at Pratt. His handmade brooms have dense horsehair bristles, which means they sweep efficiently.
New! You can now save this product for later.
When crafting these white oak and horsehair brushes, Zoe Mowat decided to paint their handles in shades from the traditional Shaker palette.
New! You can now save this product for later.
This Shaker-style broom, which has a wooden handle finished with natural soap, is handmade on an 1890s broom machine. Its skirt is hand-pleated and sewn out of silk noil.
New! You can now save this product for later.
This Japanese palm fiber broom is sold at the very chic Roman and Williams Guild —where, according to one salesperson, they routinely sell out.
The Strategistis designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the bestacne treatments,rolling luggage,pillows for side sleepers,natural anxiety remedies, andbath towels. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
Every editorial product is independently selected. If you buy something through our links,New Yorkmay earn an affiliate commission.
