Hiliki spice jars

Three spice jars cut from upcycled wine bottles, each with a lid carved by hand from mkongo wood. Stand them on the kitchen worktop beside the stove where you can reach them mid-recipe, or line them up on an open shelf. Every lid seals on a food-grade silicone ring, and the jars will hold ground spices, loose tea, salt, or anything else you want to keep dry.

The set is two tall jars at 12 cm and one short at 10 cm, all three 7 cm across. Hiliki is Swahili for cardamom, and every lid is carved by hand as a cardamom flower, with no two patterns quite identical.

A carver shapes each lid from mkongo as a cardamom flower, with a food-grade silicone ring set inside it to close the jar airtight.

The glass underneath was a wine bottle. A team on Zanzibar collects empties from hotels, resorts, restaurants and dump sites, because tourism brings waste to the island. At the workshop they sort the bottles by colour, remove the labels, then wash and disinfect them.

The women score a groove around each bottle. Heat and cold part the glass along that line, and two rounds of polishing take the new edge down until it’s smooth to handle.

Each jar keeps the colour of the bottle it was cut from, so the three in a set rarely match exactly.

The workshop runs on solar power, collects rainwater and works towards producing no waste of its own. It trains its artisans on the job and holds guaranteed membership of the World Fair Trade Organisation.

Wash the glass by hand and dry it before you refill. Keep the wooden lids out of water: a dry cloth is enough, and nothing abrasive. Wipe the silicone ring when you refill.