I’ve heard it said that no one has yet to invent a machine that can weave a basket.
Above is short video in which I unweave an “easter” style basket I bought in a thrift store. Weaving for me is often a slow, meditative soothing activity. I have the luxury of time, and choice of materials, to make it into (what I consider to be) an art form. When I unmade this basket, my thoughts couldn’t help but turn to the person who made it. No doubt the original weaver’s pace was anything but slow and meditative. The materials are rough, those bright dyes rubbed off on my skin. My thoughts turned to the global economy and this scale of production we have created. When you imagine all the entities that got a piece of the pie, was there much left for the original maker of this basket? Does it help or hurt if you chose to buy a second-hand easter basket in a thrift store? Does that just end up punishing the original maker by decreasing demand?
I wish I had some answers.
The video is a part of an on-going, still-brewing project in which I hope to explore more of these ideas. You’ll notice I increase the view speed about halfway through to make the overall run time shorter. Whether weaving, or unweaving, it's an entirely handmade process that takes time.
If I’ve piqued your curiosity about exploring basketry, I have some videos on Youtube detailing how to pick, process, dry and use English Ivy as basketry material.
Every basket in the world was made by hand.