Simple Utility: Foraged, Hand-Bound, “Generational” Brooms, Made in Canada

There’s something calming and comforting about sweeping a room clean. And a broom looks rather autumnal, too, when hung from a hook. That’s why we have been admiring anew the brooms and brushes by Prairie Breeze Folk Arts Studio, helmed by Winnipeg, Canada-based broomsquire Amina Haswell. “I see broom-making as an art when done correctly,” Amina told June Home Supply a while back. And indeed, these are some of the most artful handmade brushes and brooms we’ve seen.


There’s a broom for every need, but take a look at just a few we love:
Above: “Amina spends her days binding naturally unprocessed broom corn…grown locally on her acreage and imported from North American sources and binds them with natural and synthetic fibers to make over 36 varieties of brooms in over 42 different colors,” according to the Prairie Breeze Folk Arts website. She “harvests many of the handles she uses in her broom-making by foraging the forest for the perfect sticks in areas across Manitoba and across Canada when possible.” Shown here is the Signature Traditional Sweeper ($138 CAD); it’s handmade from corn husks, and the head of the broom is stitched flat, Shaker style. The brooms are made to last and meant to be handed down.
Above: With its untrimmed ends, the Sailor Broom ($60 CAD) can be used to clean the floor, walls, or ceiling; “like its name, it comes from the sailing tradition of making brooms on rope.”
Above: The Ramses Hearth Broom ($92 CAD) is made from black broom corn and is “ideally hung next to the fireplace for quick efficient cleanup of soot and ash with no discoloration of the broom corn to worry about.”
Above: Also on offer: a set of Kitchen Accessories ($42), including veggie brush, cake tester, and pot scrubber, with binding thread in a variety of colors, all boxed and tied with a ribbon.
Above: The handheld Eagle Wing Whisk Broom ($35 CAD) is good for quick tidy-ups of any surface.



Above: Amina also offers an eco-friendly, biodegradable Cuban Mop ($75 CAD), the original Swiffer. (For a tutorial, see one of our most popular posts of all time: The Cuban Mop: The Near Perfect Cleaning Tool You’ve Never Heard of (and How to Use It).)


Prairie Breeze Folk Arts Studio has many more varieties of brooms and brushes (including a radiator broom, yard broom, and a charming-sounding wedding broom) on their website. (And a tip for good broom care? Always “hang or lay broom flat when not in use. Never stand broom on bristles/sweeps, as they will bend and be less effective.”)


For more in the way of brooms, brushes, and utilitarian finds, see:



* Domestic Science: How to Sweep a Floor, Perfectionist’s Edition

* Object of Desire: Handmade Luxe Brooms from a Brooklyn Artist

* The Cuban Mop: The Near Perfect Cleaning Tool You’ve Never Heard of (and How to Use It)






N.B.: This story originally appeared on November 6, 2020 and has been updated with all new images and links. | bit.ly/3XLoEJb


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