About MUSACO

We make a range of products from fibre extracted from harvested banana tree trunks. Every year, large quantities of trunks are thrown away. We extract the fibre from these trunks using a natural, gentle and chemical-free method. We mainly use the trunks of trees grown around Kegalle, which is a small town an hour and a half from the ancient city of Kandy in west-central Sri Lanka.

Our brand name, Musaco, is a combination of ‘musa’, which is a native species of banana famous in the Kegalle region, and ‘co’, which means ‘fibrous tree trunk.’

In 2013, a Japanese foundation started supporting the production of banana fibre handicrafts in the Kegalle area to generate incomes for vulnerable people. The Musaco concept was created by French strategy designer Dorothée Etienne in 2015. Musaco has also benefitted from the support of Ms. Mieko Murai, a Japanese partner. In December 2019, Musaco opened a small handicrafts shop in Kegalle. However, due to the prolonged corona, the shop closed in November 2020.

Musaco is a not-for-profit workers’ cooperative. It has seven core staff, plus about 25 members who spin and weave the thread. Some of Musaco’s producers have disabilities, while others have family members with disabilities. Working together closely, everyone plays their part in lovingly crafting Musaco’s upcycled products.

Step 1 :
Looking for unwanted banana tree trunks

Members of our production team start by asking friends and neighbours if they have any unwanted banana tree trunks on their property. Sometimes members of the team hear about tree trunks available some way off, so they rent a truck for the day and head to the site to pick them up. Once they locate the tree, they cut it down with a machete. The trunk of a banana tree contains a lot of water, which makes it very heavy, so cutting it down is hard work!

Step 2 :
Extracting the fibre from the trunk

Once the tree has been cut down, it is taken to Musaco’s fibre-extraction machine. Because the trunk contains a lot of water, it will rot if left unattended to, so it’s important to extract the fibre as soon as possible. First, the outer bark of the trunk is removed and it is cut lengthwise into long, thin pieces. These are pushed through the machine one by one and then pulled back the way they came. Et voilà! Banana fibre!

Step 3 :
Washing and drying the fibre

One by one, the bundles of fibre are washed in water and then draped over a rope and dried in the sun. You have to be careful not to let the fibre dry out too much or it will break. You also have to be careful not to let the fibre get damp or it will go mouldy.

Step 4 :
Making banana fibre thread 

Once the bundles of fibre are dry, they are taken indoors and put into storage. Our production team spins the fibre into top quality thread by hand, which is a time-consuming process. One of the most difficult aspects of making thread from banana fibre is ensuring that the knots are all of the same thickness. Musaco’s thread varies in thickness from 0.5mm to 8mm.

Step 5 :
The production process 

Once the thread has been spun, it’s ready to be turned into a beautiful Musaco product. Crocheting can be done with thread 0.5 mm to 1 mm thick, but making such fine thread is expensive because it requires both time and skill. You need a lot of thread to make more densely stitched products, and inevitably this too increases the price. We like to give our customers reasonably priced products, so we combine fine threadwork with other stitching and fabric making methods. We also try to strike a balance between fair prices and a reasonable workload for members of the production team.