Short history of willow basketry

People have woven baskets from willow for thousands of years. It’s one of the oldest crafts we know of, older than pottery in many parts of the world. Willow grows quickly, roots easily, and sends up long, flexible shoots when it’s cut back. That made it a dependable material wherever it grew. Across Europe, farmers coppiced willow beds, cutting the plants to the ground each winter so they would send up a fresh crop of straight rods, or “withies,” the next season. Some regions built whole economies around the practice. In England’s Somerset Levels, willow has been grown and woven commercially for centuries, and growers still harvest it there today. Before cardboard, plastic, and metal bins, baskets carried almost everything: fish, bread, laundry, firewood, harvested crops, even goods traveling by ship and rail.

The ribbed basket is one of the most enduring of these forms. Its frame of crossed hoops with ribs woven between them is generally traced to the British Isles and Northern Europe. Immigrants brought the form to North America, where it took root in Appalachia and other rural communities and was often woven from whatever material grew nearby, such as white oak splits or willow. Farm families made and used these baskets for everyday work, gathering eggs, carrying produce, and hauling goods to market. The skills passed from hand to hand within families and communities. Today weavers keep the tradition alive both as a working craft and as a link to generations of makers who shaped these same curves by hand.