“It will last you for years.”

There is something so beautiful about a wicker basket – in fact I think everything is beautiful about a wicker basket. For a start they are handmade, sustainable and strong.

The one in the photograph was bought at the craft market in Farnham, where the man who made it, Stuart Philpot, was on hand to demonstrate. He made the process look so straight-forward, easy even, but I’m not sure it was. He told us that his father used to make baskets, and passed the skills on to him, however he chose a different career for a decade or so. Then in 2020, with lockdown time on his hands, he returned to the basket weaving his father had taught him. Now it is what he does, and judging by the range of baskets stacked around his position, he is very good at it.

Just touching the baskets made me wonder why we’ve become so addicted to machine made goods.

If you a few minutes free to watch a little basket weaving you might enjoy this link.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023