Mukru tray. Local name Wa-chee. Purchased from the Amerindian craft shop, 216 Princess Street, Georgetown, Guyana. The Wai Wai of Southern Guyana who are revered for their beautiful basketry and general craftsmanship made the trays. The mukru trays got their names from the fibres of the mukru plants from which they were made. The mukru is also known as so-wa. The trays are used for all sorts of domestic activities such as carrying cassava/manioc flour. The trays have different patterns but the brown pattern on a lighter background is a style widely used by the Wai Wai and other Amerindians.
A square tray with high sides and raised bottom, woven from plant fibre. The flat surface of the tray is woven in a pattern of a dark saltire running from the centre to each corner on a light background; and within each quarter there is a geometric pattern of hollow dark diamonds (with lighter centres) repeated on a lighter background. The sides of the tray and the base are woven of dark-coloured fibre, and the sides have been strengthened at the top and bottom by lengths of lighter-coloured split cane or wood tied with string along each edge.
