Heather Large catches up with a Shropshire artisan who has learned ancient techniques to craft amazing basketry sculptures from natural materials.
Willow weaving has been part of British heritage for centuries.
Daisy Askins first fell in love with this ancient craft five years ago and now creates sculptures and basketry using natural materials.
In her studio at Maws Craft Centre in Jackfield, Ironbridge, she works mainly with vine, willow and wood.
“Basket making is one of the oldest forms of crafts and it’s practised all over the world,” says Daisy.
“We’re still using the same techniques that were used hundreds of years ago. I like being rooted in that tradition but also reimagining it in a contemporary setting.”
The 31-year-old previously worked in landscape architecture and specialised in project managing heritage landscape restoration and community engagement projects, working across the UK with private and public sector organisations and grant funding bodies.
Keen to spend more time outdoors, she started running craft and wellbeing projects for adults and children in the Wyre Forest.
“I wanted to get out from behind the laptop and more into nature,” explains Daisy, who lives in Ironbridge.
To learn the skills she needed to deliver the workshops, she attended short courses in a variety of crafts including willow weaving.
“I fell in love with it,” she says. “The course was run by Sarah at Hopewood Baskets in Wyre Forest, she’s a professional basket maker.”
Daisy threw herself into the craft, learning as much as she could and taking on a number of different projects. She is now studying at Westhope College, near Craven Arms, which offers City & Guide courses in Basketry Level 2 and also Basketry Level 3 – the latter is exclusive to the college.
“Shropshire has quite a thriving basket making community and a lot of it is due to Westhope College and the courses they offer,” explains Daisy.
She has recently moved into a new studio – Vine Willow Wood – at Maws Craft Centre and says she is enjoying being part of a community of makers. “It’s really inspiring to be surrounded by some of the many craftspeople who make a living from what they can do with their hands,” adds Daisy.
Although she primarily works with willow, Daisy also incorporates vines and wood into her designs. She said: “My family luckily own a vineyard, Astley Vineyard in Worcestershire, and I use the grape vine prunings in some of sculptural and artistic projects.
“There are two ways to work with willow. There is living willow which is harvested and rather than letting it dry, if the rods are planted in the ground as part of a sculpture, they will start to grow again. It’s great for pollinators.
“We can also work with dried willow which is harvested and left to dry for a few months. Before you can work with it, the willow rods need to be soaked so they become pliable and flexible again.
“The general rule is that it’s a day of soaking for every foot of length, so four feet would need four days. But willow is a natural material and it doesn’t always stick to the rules so it can take longer,” explains Daisy who sources her willow from the Somerset Levels but would love to grow her own willow one day.
When she’s not working in her studio, Daisy gets involved in community projects and commissions.
Earlier this year, she created a living willow sculpture in Lawley Community Garden as part of the King’s coronation celebrations.
Daisy then went on to be awarded an artist residency at the New Art Gallery Walsall as part of a commission with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to create a sculpture trail in a park in Walsall.
She is also involved in a a project with Bournville Village Trust to create a sculpture at the Squatters Cottage in Lightmoor to celebrate the wildlife and heritage of the area.
And this winter, Daisy is also supporting a new community project right on her doorstep – restoring a withy bed in Ironbridge.
The project is being led by Severn Gorge Community Trust, and is funded by the Green Communities Grant from Bupa Foundation and Groundwork.
“Historically, every community would have had a withy bed – where willow was grown to make baskets and other structures,” she explains.
“Withy beds would often be located along watercourses and land prone to flooding as willow thrives in these conditions unlike most other crops.
“Withy beds would not only have been a vital community resource, but also provided a valuable habitat for local wildlife – known to support over 250 species of insects and birds.”
Britain has lost the majority of its withy beds due to the decline in the local basketry industry over the past 75 years. There are now only a handful of large scale commercial willow growers in the UK, mostly based on the Somerset Levels.
However, there has been a resurgence in small scale willow growers in recent years, driven by basket makers who want to grow their own materials to use in their craft.
“Severn Gorge Countryside Trust planted a willow bed in Ironbridge over twenty years ago, but over time, it has become unproductive, overgrown and neglected. It is very much a secret garden. So secret in fact, that I have been unknowingly walking and cycling past it for the past six years. I couldn’t quite believe it when it was revealed to me,” says Daisy.
Over the coming months, Daisy will be working alongside Severn Gorge Countryside Trust to restore the withy bed, and raise awareness of the many uses and benefits of willow as a sustainable material and craft.
This will include running regular volunteer work parties to improve access to the site, clear the overgrown vegetation, and lay a long length of hedge to bring much-needed light back to the bed.
“We’ll be saving what willow coppice stools we can, and supplementing them with new plantings so that we have a sustainable source of willow for community projects in the future,” says Daisy. Back in her studio, Daisy also runs a programme of workshops where she teaches people the tools and techniques of willow weaving.
“There is something very relaxing and restorative about working with willow,” she says.
“Maybe it’s because it’s a really repetitive technique. It’s very mindful. You have to absorb yourself in the craft.
“There is something really satisfying about taking a pile of sticks and turning them into something that’s really beautiful and quite functional,” adds Daisy.
Daisy is holding monthly open studio events offering visitors the chance to view a small selection of items for sale and information about her workshops and community projects.
