Halfa 101 – Why It’s One of Our Favorite Materials

In a previous blog post, we talked about Halfa and reintroduced the charming material. Now, why is Halfa one of Ellie’s favorite materials to use? Here are a few reasons why:

Empowering Female Breadwinners

Halfa products introduced a new source of income to families living in the heart of El Badrasheen and Dahshour. Instead of throwing the grass away, it is prepped and used to make products which are then sold, thus, creating a source of income for the women, from the comfort of their homes. Men gather the grass, and the women start to prep and create the products. On average, it takes the women 30 minutes to twine the grass into rope and around 40 minutes to create the finished product. Even young children quickly learned the craft and started to use it to create toys for themselves such as dolls. In 2021 alone, Ellie was able to support 80 female breadwinners, who worked either on creating our Halfa products, or our ceramic pieces.

A Sustainable Material

Halfa is also a sustainable material. The material itself is considered agricultural waste, but instead of it being thrown away, it's reused and upgraded into products that are durable and have high resistance, as the finished product is water resistant and holds its shape. Not to mention, the manufacturing process is efficient, and completely handmade so it doesn’t consume energy or resources.

A Flexible Material

In addition, once the material is prepped, it is flexible to use and shape into whatever your heart desires. From baskets to mats, to even coasters, Halfa can be used in order to create any type of product, in any size and dimension.

Endless Styling Options

Finally, the styling options for Halfa are endless. You can use a basket to serve bread and baked goods on your dinner table, use it as an accessory for your living room to keep a bunch of fluffy woven blankets in for those lazy movie nights, or even use it as a chic bottle holder to add a different touch to your home. The different sizes of baskets allow you to use them as storage baskets, planter baskets, laundry baskets, a basket to display your flowers in, etc.