Masterclass basketry Dutch Design Week

During the Dutch Design Week I was able to take a masterclass on invitation by Etsy. This masterclass was an initiative from the Dutch Crafts Counsil in collaboration with the Cultural Participation Fund and Etsy and was one of a series of masterclasses. Every day of the Dutch Design Week there was a masterclass in traditional techniques, for example gold painting, felting, Delft Blue painting.

            picture Dutch Crafts Counsil 

The masterclass I got to take was basketry and was given by Esmé Hofman. Esmé is one of the few left in the Netherlands who practices basketry on a high level. She collaborates with designers a lot to create new products with traditional techniques. Her passion lies with fine skein willow work, this is a very fine basketry technique. Willow skeins are being cloved in three parts and then planed by hand on a special planingbench. The skeins used can be only 1 or 2 mm thick. Every object is braided around a model and is very time consuming. A braided basket can take up to 40 hours or more to make.

            pictures Dutch Crafts Counsil 

We got started on the principles of basketry. The cleaving of the skeins and braiding a simple basket.
The cleaving was meant to get the feel of it a little bit. A willow skein is a natural material with knots and turns. You had to pay attention or else your skein got so thin that it broke. Fortunately we didn't had to braid with the skeins we had cloved ourselves.
The skeins we worked with were about 3 mm thick. These had to be cleaned first to remove any leftover bark. Now we could braid the bottom of our basket. It was very important that all the holes were equal. Next we could make the corners by braiding on each side the middle skeins. Now we could place the model and braid the rest of the basket. It was a bit of a puzzle, but I got the hang of it and I'm not displeased about my first basket.

            pictures et aussi

For the second basket the base was the same, only the braiding wasn't used diagonal but straight. Therefore the rest of the basket was easier to finish, around over under.

            pictures et aussi

The basics are not very difficult, but the material is rigid and laborious and it's very time consuming. And still I had a very nice time, I'm even contemplating using this technique on one of my designs.

So many thanks to Ingrid from Etsy, who has made this discovery possible for me.

Reacties

Een reactie posten

Populaire posts van deze blog

knotted pendant lamps by Kwangho Lee

Afbeelding
A while ago I came across this picture on, of course, Pinterest and I was in love. At the time I couldn't get to the source of the picture. In my research for another post recently I came across it again and this time I found the designer: Kwangho Lee. He is a designer from Seoul, Korea. His basic design principle is giving new meaning and function to everyday objects and materials. The inspiration came from his grandmother knitting when he was young and from his grandfather who recycled everything he found. The lamp that first caught my eye is entirely made from thick electrical wire. For this restaurant he made them from rope. pendant lamps in The Atlantic Restaurant  The technique he uses is a sort of self-invented finger knitting. Every piece is entirely handmade. The material is so tough that he often worked until his hands bled. blue pendant lamps brown pendant lamp brown pendant lamp detail black pendant lamp black pendant lamp chandel...
Meer lezen

GIVEAWAY: Lampe chunky

Afbeelding
It is time for the next giveaway. This month you can win a Lampe chunky in a colour of your choice, worth €159,95. The Lampe chunky comes in 6 colours and is made of thick cotton yarn. It has 3 meter cord and a plug. You can also choose between a clear or an opal bulb. For all the details and to see the colours you can click to my website . What you have to do to win: - follow me on instagram - like and share the post about the giveaway on instagram - comment what colour you would love and where you will use the lamp. This giveaway is open worldwide. The giveaway closes Sunday 26 April and the winner will be announced the next day.
Meer lezen

Collection: Lampe chunky

Afbeelding
This month will be all about the latest addition to the Lampes: the Lampe chunky. The Lampe chunky fits nicely between my plug in lamp and my garden lamp.  The design of the Lampe plug in is quite fine and delicate and when I designed the garden lamp, the material made this lamp more chunky. I liked that look for outside. But I also wanted that look for inside, so I decided to combine the chunkyness of the gardenlamp with the colours and material of the plug in lamp. The result: a sturdy, chunky, more industrial plug in lamp for inside. Available in 6 colours thick cotton, with 3 meters cord and a plug with a switch. For the bulb you can choose between an opal or a clear led bulb of 4 watt. In the third picture you can see I hung the lamp on the wall with a strap. This is the Loop XL, comparible with the Loop pillow (which I discribed in my previous collection blog) but a bit smaller. The Loop XL straps are made from thick merino wool felt and are available i...
Meer lezen