Basket making

Basketry is widely believed to be the oldest craft in the world, dating back ten to twelve thousand years and predating pottery. It is also the most ubiquitous, found in some form in almost every part of the world. Baskets were an everyday life essential throughout the centuries, used for containing, storing and transporting items, as well as for fishing. They were of such necessity that each village or district had local basketmaking artisans.

The Romans often used willow for the craft of basketmaking. Britain was renowned for skilled basketry, and large quantities were exported to Rome. Somerset, with wetlands suitable for willow beds, was the heart of Britain’s willow industry. Hazel and oak were also used in Britain for basketry. The Industrial Revolution heavily influenced willow production and basketmaking, creating a higher demand of willow. This lead to the plantation of over 3,000 acres in the early 1800s. By the end of the 19th Century there were hundreds of willow growers, willow merchants, basketmakers and furniture makers on the Somerset Levels and moors.

According to Lynch, “[b]askets were standardised, and the 1916 British Amalgamated Union listed precise measurements and quantities of willow for many items, including hawkers’ baskets, plate baskets, scuttles, wool skeps, and linen baskets, as well as pheasant hampers, bread trays, sieves, pickers, cycle crates, homing pigeon baskets and even bath chairs.”

Harvesting was arduous work, and once harvested, it needed to be stripped by hand until ‘the willow stripping machine’ was first used in the interwar years. The introduction of plastic in the 1950s led to a decline in the willow basket industry. Lynch reports that there are now only 300-400 acres of willow land on the Somerset Levels and Moors, and about a dozen apprentice-trained basketmakers. Little has been altered in the craft of willow weaving and basket-making, since the Iron Age. “Willow growing and basketmaking continue to play such an important role in Somerset’s rural economy, maintaining an unbroken tradition begun thousands of years ago.”

The number of basketmakers began to fall in the nineteenth century: 14,000 professional basketmakers were recorded in 1891, falling to 5,500 by the mid-1930s. It is unclear how many professional basketmakers there are today, but the numbers are thought to be around 200. Basketry suffered particularly from the availability of new materials and from new methods of storing and transporting items in industry, agriculture and domestic life.

There are generally acknowledged to be seven construction methods in basketry: looping, knotting, plaiting, coiling, weaving, twining and assembly. These constructions methods are generally recognised as the defining characteristic of basketry. Baskets are traditionally made with plant fibres, with construction methods developing to use whatever material was to hand; other materials such as paper, plastic and metal are popular in contemporary basketry.

• Looping – manipulating a single, continuous length of a flexible material (such as cordage, vine, or wire) into a series of interconnected stitches. Looping creates a self-supporting piece where each loop is formed by passing the end of the material through a loop in the previous row. Makers can use variations such as ‘simple looping’, where the fibre spirals through the previous row, or ‘loop-and-twist’, where the fibre is twisted around itself before moving to the next stitch to create a firmer, less stretchy structure.

• Knotting – tying single or multiple sets of material into a series of permanent and fixed joints. Unlike looping, knotting involves ‘locking’ the material at each intersection, usually using a square knot, half-hitch, or sheet bend. The process typically begins at a central point or along a rigid rim, where strands are attached and then knotted to adjacent strands in alternating patterns. The result is a stable, geometric piece that does not stretch or distort as easily as looped pieces. This technique is ideal for creating sturdier bags or decorative open work baskets.

• Plaiting – two or more sets of material are interlaced at a fixed angle, crossing horizontal and vertical strips (the ‘weft’ and the ‘warp’) over and under each other in a checkerboard or diagonal pattern. Tension is maintained by packing the strips tightly together, often starting from a flat base and bending the elements upward to form the sides of the basket.

• Coiling – wrapping a flexible ‘stitch’ around a continuous foundation material, beginning with a core (e.g. a single rod of willow) that is wound into a tight spiral. The core circles outward and upward to form the base and sides. A moving element (the binder) is threaded through a needle and stitched over the current row into the row beneath it, locking them together. By varying the stitch tension and core thickness, the maker can precisely sculpt the shape, height and density of the piece.

• Weaving – interlacing two separate sets of elements, the rigid, vertical warps (spokes) and the more flexible, horizontal wefts (weavers). The process begins by securing the spokes into a base, after which the weaver passes the horizontal material over and under the vertical stakes in a continuous circuit.

• Twining – twisting two or more flexible horizontal elements (wefts), around a set of stationary vertical elements (warps). Unlike simple weaving, where a single strand passes over and under, in twining the two wefts are crossed over each other between every warp. This ‘locks’ the warps in place, creating a stable and dense piece. The structure is maintained by ensuring a consistent twist tension. Geometric patterns can also be created by alternating the colours of the two wefts.

• Assembly – joining components, such as woven panels, bases or handles, to create a finished structural form. Unlike continuous techniques, assembly is carried out by using secondary materials (e.g. stitching fibers, lashing, or metal fasteners) to bridge gaps between parts. The maker is enabled to combine different materials and textures, in a way that may be too difficult through a single, continuous weave.

There are numerous types of traditional regional basket and special-purpose baskets and basketwork items.

• Willow sculpture
• Willow coffin making
• Living willow
• Chair seating
• Willow growing

In 2019, The Basketmakers’ Association, Heritage Crafts and the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers carried out additional research into Endangered Baskets in the UK, and the issues facing the basketry sector. You can download the report here.

• The Basketmakers’ Association – provides a range of support for basketmakers including bursaries for skills development and Spring and Autumn Schools. The BA is currently working with the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers and Cockpit Arts to offer a Basket Makers Professional Development Programme that focusses on business sustainability.
• The Worshipful Company of Basketmakers – provides the Walmsley Bursary and other discretionary bursaries for makers. The Company is also support the Basket Makers Professional Development Programme, see above.
• Scottish Basketmakers Circle
• Crafts Council
• Arts Council
• Makers’ Guild Wales
• Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust – offer bursaries for individual progression.
• Winston Churchill Memorial Fund for travelling

There are also a number of local and regional basketry groups and guilds. The Basketmakers’ Association have a list of local and international basketry groups on their website.

The Basketmakers’ Association has a list of makers on its website. Makers includes all those who create a diverse range of basketry using various materials, skilled chair seaters, and willow based sculptures.

Businesses that employ two or more makers:

• Coates English Willow
• Musgrove Willow
• Hastingwood Basket Works 
• All About Willow 

In 2020, 248 Basketmakers’ Association members listed themselves as either accepting commissions or running a business. Some of these will be full-time and part-time professional makers.

• Bichard, Maurice, (2008) Baskets in Europe (Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Fyfield Wick Editions).
• Butcher, Mary, (1999) Contemporary International Basketmaking (London: Merrell Holberton), p.11.
• Collins, E J T (ed), (2004) Crafts in the English Countryside: Towards a Future (Countryside Agency)
• BBC, From cradle to grave: willows and basketmaking in Somerset
• Basketmakers’ Association
• Woven Communities
• Lewis, Mary and Chandler, Selena, (2020) Endangered Baskets Report 
• https://nativehands.co.uk/2018/04/looped-cordage-netted-bags/
• https://www.burkemuseum.org/static/baskets/idgame/abcoil.html
• https://www.burkemuseum.org/static/baskets/idgame/aatwine.html