At Saffron Trading Company, Craft Has a Job to Do

A room can tell its story through the things that earn their keep. A seat, a basket, even a place for the cat to curl up can carry as much personality as something chosen purely for display.

That is an appealing way into Saffron Trading Company, the shop at 14 South Broadway in Nyack. Founded in 2008, according to its own history, Saffron takes inspiration from cultures and craftsmanship around the world. Two pieces in its online basketry collection make that broad idea unusually concrete.

One is an hourglass-shaped rattan stool. Saffron describes it as handmade in Myanmar, with a solid wood support inside. The detail matters: the woven exterior and the supporting structure have different jobs, bringing a decorative form into a practical piece of furniture. It is a useful example of how basket weaving can move beyond the basket.

The other is a rattan pet bed with an included cushion. Its product description suggests a second life as a small storage basket when it is no longer serving as a sleeping spot. That modest bit of flexibility is the interesting part. The object can change duties without losing its place in a room.

Those examples give Saffron’s interest in craft a domestic scale. You do not need to imagine an entire house transformed to see the appeal; one useful object is enough to start with. Beyond basketry, the shop’s website also spans jewelry, clothing, home gifts, and bath and body products.

For a local shopping story, though, the stool and the pet bed are worth lingering over. They suggest a way to choose things for the home: pay attention to their shape and materials, then ask what role they could play in daily life. At Saffron, that question has some pleasantly unexpected answers.