Using Nature's Abundance...

 ...to weave a kinder, simpler world

This is the motto of "Norfolk Hedge Baskets" - and on Tuesday evening I went along to the Swanton Morley Gardening Club to listen to Jonathon Carrie talk about his craft. 

He was really interesting. In 45 minutes he explained all about basket weaving in this country, and as he talked, he wove a small basket. 

It is quite a while since I went on my basketweaving course and this has definitely rekindled my interest in the subject.

Apart from anything else, Jonathon was so knowledgeable about the history, and the wonderful old words* still used to describe the techniques. 

He showed us that there are just four basic tools needed - secateurs for cutting, a bodkin for pushing holes through, a weight for keeping things flat [he has an old Victorian flat iron] and a 'heavy tool for rapping down' [he uses an old spanner. Well, we have three of those - so I would only need to find a bodkin.

He did make it all look deceptively simple! 

Here he is with the end product. He had a whole selection of baskets with him for sale. Find his website and shop here. He runs regular courses.

He says of his work 

Whilst other basket makers and sellers strive for uniformity I look for the individual, the original, the intimate and the exclusive. This is how baskets used to be made: when times were quieter, slower and more peaceful….Weaving is a spiritual activity; it is emotional and I try to weave compassion and kindness into every basket.

As I already knew, all willow baskets have to be woven by hand - they have not managed to produce a machine to do this work. During the coffee break, people went up to look at his display, and I heard one or two mutter about the prices [starting at £30] Yes, you can find similar stuff online at half the price - but it is usually imported. So once you have factored in the carbon footprint of the journey, and the various people along the way who want their cut of the selling price, it is unlikely that the skilled person who made the basket was paid a fair wage. 

Jonathon spoke about the continental baskets, and how the French look for style and aesthetic design - whereas the English have always been more concerned about functionality, and making the basket useful and fit for purpose. Norfolk has a great history of specific baskets for agricultural and fishing use. Creel, and skeps and panniers. Most English willow for baskets is now grown on the Somerset levels, but Jonathon uses locally grown materials.

This is the little fruit basket I made back in 2015 is not perfect, but is in regular use and I love it. 

*On the subject of old words, and weaving, I have been dipping into my "Wordhord" book again recently. I just love the word gongel-wæfre, which means walker-weaver. It is the Old English term for a spider!