Vintage French Basket w/ Leather Lid

"It's actually a purse — it had handles," Patricia recalls of this coiled straw basket, picked up at a Paris brocante. "I even used it as a purse for a little while. Now it can be used as a basket — great for onions, garlic, or small new harvest potatoes." The warm honey tones of the straw are offset by a fitted lid of dark brown leather, hand-stitched around its circumference in pale thread. On a kitchen counter or pantry shelf, it does exactly what Patricia suggests: a home for a head of garlic, a handful of shallots, or the first small potatoes of the season. It would look equally at home on a Paris windowsill or a Provençal kitchen table.