Basketry - An Ancient Craft
Basketry is an ancient craft. The earliest evidence found dated before 8,000 BCE and has been used primarily for functional purposes.
Nowadays is used as well as a form of art or fine craft. This craft uses natural materials like grasses, leaves, palms, woody stems, roots, and rushes by weaving or coiling them into baskets.
Basketry has been done by people worldwide for thousands of years, and depending on the purpose and the materials available, different basketry techniques naturally emerged, like wicker, coiling, twining, or plaiting.
Each technique has some variants, and weavers can combine several styles in the same piece to create unique and creative baskets.
Basketry Techniques
Wicker technique
Wicker basketry makes baskets by taking pliable weft material and lacing it over and under rigid warp material, one piece at a time.
Coiling technique
Coiling begins at the center of a basket and grows upon itself in spiral rounds, each attached to the round before. In coiling, designs are not made by changing the weave but by using a different color sewing thread.
Twining technique
Twined work begins with a foundation of rigid elements, or warp rods, around which two, and sometimes three or four, weft elements are woven. The wefts are separated, brought around a stationary warp rod, brought together again, and twisted. The action is repeated, building the basket. Patterns are made by changing the number of wefts or warping the wefts pass over.
Plaiting technique
In plaiting, two elements are woven over and under each other at right angles. Twilled, the weave is much the same, except that the weft materials are incorporated over two or more warps.
At Cerdeira Arts and Crafts School, you can learn more about basketry in one of our courses or workshops.
From the 17th to the 19th of March 2023, we will host Cristina Fonseca, one of the few artisans dedicated to Basketry in Bunho, a traditional Portuguese basketry technique.
This is the ideal basketry for beginners workshop. You can create unique pieces of basketry intertwined with our hands and creativity.
From the 25th to the 30th of April 2023, The Basket Making Course with Carlos Fontales invites all to learn the art of Traditional Basketry with different vegetable fibers.
In this 6-day course, you will have the opportunity to learn about, identify and work with different raw materials and apply the respective techniques in basket weaving.