Barreleira (lye-wash basket)

The barreleira is used before the laundry goes into the lye wash.

In another time. The time before.

Laundry was washed in the river or at home. On wooden boards, or later in tanks. And whitened with the lye wash - boiling water, soap, and sieved wood ash - in the barreleira, a tub made from sturdy materials, such as iron or even wood.

This barreleira - a laundry basket with a beautiful name - is the work of Algarve artisan Isidoro Ramos, from Paderne. It is made from esparto, a native plant, which he himself watches grow in the fields and hills of the Algarve until it is ready to be pulled, between July and September.

Once pulled, the esparto is left in the sun to take on a golden tone, and is then soaked, to become softer and workable. It takes shape in braids - the empreita -which are then coiled and stitched together, using a thick needle and jute or sisal cord. With the same traditional technique Isidoro learned as a child from his grandmother and mother.

To make the Barreleira, the braids are coiled for the base and built upward. Slowly. With pressure and precision, all the way to the top. The lid is made with a narrower braid.

The barreleira holds the laundry, waiting for the lye wash. And it holds the esparto of the Algarve hills, the hands that pulled it, and the technique that Isidoro's grandmother and mother taught him.