Clean Sweep

Woven brooms that are built to last and beautiful to display.

By Shivaun Watchorn
October 3, 2024

The American broom industry took off nearly two centuries ago to serve a rapidly growing nation. But after the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect in 1994 and cheap imported brooms became the norm, it all but died. All this time, individual makers and small companies have continued the tradition of handcrafting brooms. The five makers here make woven brooms—frequently using locally gathered materials—that are built to last and beautiful to display.

At Sunhouse Craft, housed in a historic storefront in downtown Berea, Kentucky, Cynthia Main weaves organic linen and cotton thread and Tampico fiber from agave plants into versatile turkey wing brooms. This one (top), measuring 11 x 5.5 x 1.5 in., is accompanied by a handmade leather dustpan available in black and natural, 7.5 x 7.75 in.
/ $45 for the set
sunhousecraft.com

Pattern designer and artist Jamie Lea Bertsch of Port Washington, Wisconsin–based SWEVEN braids Tampico fiber into this round whisk table broom (bottom) for cleaning workbenches, countertops, and other surfaces, 7.5 x 2 x 2 in. Pictured here in poppy, the polished cotton cord that fastens the braid is also available in mint, mauve, and brown.
/ $21
jamieleabertsch.com

Photo by Cynthia Main and Jamie Lea Bertsch

Sunhouse Craft broom (above). SWEVEN broom (below).

Husband-and-wife team Marlow and Diana Gates of North Carolina–based Friendswood Brooms are the second generation of a storied broom family. Marlow’s father, Ralph, learned the trade in 1973. This double-headed wedding broom (left), 55 x 16 x 4 in., combines a twisty persimmon wood handle and broomcorn criss-crossing in a loving embrace, a fitting gift for a new union.
/ $650
friendswoodbrooms.com

Designed specifically for tackling hard-to-reach corners and nooks, Husk Brooms’ cobwebber brooms (middle), 36 x 3 x 3 in., combine long pieces of wispy broomcorn and a loop of manila rope, making them appealing to hang on a wall as a piece of art. Tia Tumminello, the Pittsburgh-based artist behind Husk, aims for her work to help us “shift away from plastic tools in homes and sacred spaces.”
/ $45
huskbrooms.com

Dustin Cecil describes his hearth broom (right)—made from broomcorn and a turned wooden handle with bark intact, 36 x 6 x 3 in.—as ideal for “sweeping medium sized messes.” Cecil, a woodworker based in Olive Hill, Kentucky, has been making Broomtown brooms since 2018 and teaches workshops throughout the region, inducting participants as “citizens of Broomtown” upon completion.
/ $65
etsy.com/shop/broomtown

Shivaun Watchorn is associate editor of American Craft.