Every product is handmade and therefore unique.
Long Term Benefits
SOARÉ place mats are made from dried water hyacinth, a beautiful but fast-growing plant that can clog waterways. By using water hyacinth to make products we help to naturally control their growth.
SOARÉ placemat is popular with our customers and loved by the people who make it too, because of the impact it has on their lives. It’s woven from water hyacinth that grows in the Mekong River in Vietnam. Harvesting, drying and weaving the plant are important to the people living along the river’s bank. It keeps the waterway passable, it preserves handicraft tradition and it earns the weavers extra money that can pay for new opportunities, like schooling.
SOARÉ placemat is woven from water hyacinth that grows in the Mekong River, Vietnam. Harvesting, drying and weaving it keeps waterways free, preserves traditions and earns the weavers money that can pay for opportunities like schooling.
Water hyacinth is a free-floating plant that spreads quickly in tropical waterways. When covering the surface completely, it blocks out sunlight which disrupts biodiversity. Also, local communities suffer as transportation routes are clogged. When harvested, biodiversity is restored and waterways are kept open. The plant itself becomes a resource too. The stalks make a flexible material that can be woven or braided into unique baskets, mats and other home furnishings.