Crafty Basketry

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Crafty Basketry

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Functional baskets made from natural materials. Don't you just love them? You can learn how to weave too.

From kitting out a boot room to bespoke log baskets, your project has my full attention. I teach children (age 8+) + adults up to respectable age.

28/10/2026

Just a few more days! Will you be joining us? Look forward to seeing you there.

28/10/2026

Ian Mowforth will be celebrating his move to the countryside with an exhibition in his spacious, lush studio on 13th, 14th and 15th November at Unit 6b, Shaw Barn, Whitesmith, BN8 6JD. I have been invited to show my baskets, and a select few local artists will be showing too.

Would you like to join us in the celebrations, with a glass of bubbly in one hand and your eye on some beautiful treasures you'll be able to make your own, then please let me know in your comments below, and I'll provide further details.

28/10/2026

Some lovely things happen when paths cross again.

Ian Mowforth first commissioned me several years ago, when he was still dividing his time between London and Sussex. Now he’s taken the plunge, embraced the countryside and created a wonderful new, spacious studio, and I’m delighted to have been invited to join him in celebrating this new chapter in Ian's long-standing career as a truly remarkable artist.

It’s a real pleasure and honour to be bringing my baskets alongside Ian’s fabulous paintings. We each work with our own materials and in our own way, but we both allow the materials, paint and wood, speak for themselves, reflecting nature in its purest form. Together, his and my work complement each other, so it seemed logical for the to come together in one place.

I’m looking forward to sharing it all with you on either:
Friday 13th November 14:00 till 20:00
Saturday 14th November 11:00 till 19:00
Sunday 15th November 11:00 till 19:00

Unit 6B, Shaw Farm, Whitesmith, BN8 6JD
Off the A22, 300m from Blackberry Farm!

25/10/2026

It’s always interesting to see what happens when the world of film and television turns its attention to a traditional craft. Some screen time can introduce an old skill to a whole new audience, which is just what the craft world needs!

The latest example is Wicker, a film about a fisherwoman who, after many years of being single, decides to have herself a husband made from wicker by the local basketmaker.

Black Bear UK got in touch with me to arrange a willow-weaving workshop at the Depot Cinema in Lewes, following one of the film’s screenings. The idea was simple: bring people together to make a willow heart of their own, so my aim was to give them a little taste of working with this wonderfully tactile material.

For me, this is also a lovely opportunity to meet people who might not otherwise have come across Marianne van Niekerken as a basketmaker, or Crafty Basketry. I already teach in Lewes, as you know, a the Paddock Art Studios, but there are always new people to meet, new connections to make, and perhaps a few future basketmakers waiting to discover what they enjoy making with their hands.

We hear so much about social media these days, and some people are choosing to spend less time on it. So it’s particularly rewarding when opportunities like these come along; meeting people face to face, sharing a craft, and letting a short session of willow weaving speak for itself.

Would you like to take part in the hour-long workshop, then get in touch with the Depot Cinema now and buy your tickets to Wicker and express your interest, and you may be one of the lucky 20 who will be chosen!

17/10/2026

Last weekend at the Cowshed Workshop in Tenterden.

One of the nicest things about teaching basketmaking is seeing what happens when people settle down with a bundle of willow.

At first there's usually a little uncertainty. “How on earth am I going to make a basket out of that?” And then, slowly, they get into it. They start talking. They laugh. They concentrate and try, try again. Someone gets a bit stuck and someone else helps, if I'm already helping someone else.

All bar one perfect beginners and aren't we all so living life on auto-pilot, routinely doing our jobs. Yes, we tweak things a little, but to learn a new skill from scratch, ..... and this is like learning to write again, using your hands in different ways. You feel totally out of your depth. Yes, you! Who's always to sure of yourself. Of course it feels a little scary, but then, come 11:00 - 11:30, the coin drops and there are lots of little moments of “Oh! I see!” You're finding your rhythm.

And, before you know it, it's all over, you feel strangely elated and are holding your first finished basket!

I love that. Not just because everyone goes home with a basket. I love watching people become absorbed in something. For a few hours, there isn't much else that matters for them. Most don't even think about checking their phones. I love it when they go through the change that I went through with my first basket as well. Because it's thoroughly relaxing, in a weird way, as you're finding your equilibrium again.

Just the willow, the weaving, the conversation and connection with others and feeling grounded again and the pleasure of making something with your own hands.

That's a lovely thing to be able to share. I guess the smiles speak volumes.

And I'm very lucky and feel very grateful that I get to show people my favourite craft, only because basketmakers through the generations have found it important enough to pass on this ancient craft.🙏

12/10/2026

So really blessed by all the positive feedback on my workshops all the time, but this one stood out.

It always makes me so happy to hear that I've been able to inspire people with my love for basket weaving, this ancient craft that gets more and more publicity, but to see that same passion in my students' eyes is just the best Thank You they can give me. Barbara, however, went that extra step and took the time to recommend this workshop to you and described her experience in a very eloquent way, I thought.
Thank you so much, Barbara! This just means so much to me.

I, too, had an aunt, Tante Ans, who taught me how to sew clothes and curtains when I was 15, during a summer holiday. We went to buy a magazine with patterns, I was allowed to choose what I liked the look of, and she helped me construct it with great fabrics we bought. A great thing to do, especially when its raining outside. Always making, creating. People did, in the olden days. My gran taught me how to crochet and knit with some lovely materials and colours when I was 8, and for a kid who wasn't brainy (too much trouble at home and teachers thinking I was stupid 🤨yes, one of those), or so I thought, I felt it wasn't perhaps that bad and I was capable of something.

Kids need opportunities like these to give them confidence in themselves.

Luckily, these days, if your brain works differently from others, then it now has a name and they know how to teach you instead. Perhaps these kids are the lucky ones, as they could be using their hands to make a living, just like I'm doing now. They can think outside the box, be resourceful, resilient and have a more exciting life than most.

These kids too are the future. We just need to give them the chance.

03/10/2026

One of the things I love about basket weaving is that it doesn't always go the way I want it to.

You can weave the same basket so many times and then occasionally it does its own thing. It's just a matter of concentration somewhere down the line of choosing your uprights, having them close enough together, or far enough apart.

So some baskets land on the bonfire. Very occasionally. It is what it is. And actually, I think that's one of the reasons I enjoy basketmaking so much. You have to pay attention. You have to feel what the willow is doing. Sometimes you have to change your plan, if it's not been a good start of the day. It reminds me to live without expectation. To let go.

And sometimes you just have to say, “Oh well… let's see where this goes” and quite often, while letting go, you can achieve some interesting results! Arty shapes that have a lovely flow.

I think I've always had a thing about making things. Weaving, knitting, crochet, making clothes. There's something very satisfying about starting with a pile of fairly ordinary-looking willow and in particular dirty, uncohesive-looking hedgerow and ending up with a stunning piece you'd like to cherish for many years to come, even though I always end up selling them.

But not this time with this. Mistake! I'm now just waiting for the wind to turn away from my neighbours.

30/09/2026

As you know, I've been thinking about play lately. That lovely feeling of doing something simply because you enjoy it.

I really love what I do, weaving baskets as a full-time profession, but my focus is often on making stock, or concentrated around the commissions I have, so even though I thoroughly immerse myself in the process, there's often very little play, where I give myself a free hand to just see what'll happen when I start without a focus on the end result. I think we lose a bit of that real play as we get older, but it was that exact thing that made us so happy and made things such fun.

There always seems to be something that needs doing, and even when we have some time to ourselves, we're very good at finding something useful to do with it, before allowing ourselves some time to just be, or play. With parents who never sat down and who had a thing against what they called "lazy" ("your hands should never be still") I know I'm guilty of it.

Just occasionally now, when I'm weaving, I don't have a particular outcome in mind and am just enjoying the willow in my hands and seeing what happens, the fresh air, wind playing with leaves and bird song in the background. And funnily enough, the result is often a really lovely and different shape of basket, which was great fun to make.

Precious moments. More please! 😉🌿

28/09/2026

You know how you occasionally just have to step outside your bubble to feel alive again? Well, I'm really bad at allowing myself to do this. I feel that I should be making better use of my time, always criticising what should be done first! "Right!" I hear you say, and with a frown, perhaps. I know. But I'm getting better at letting go.

I know I'm late, posting this, but last month I went to .fest , THE basketry festival in Britain, to keep learning from and with world-renowned basketmakers and one in particular again this time, namely We wove a vedmeis, a traditional basket from the west of Norway, over three days. Two days of preparing weavers and one day weaving the basket. Now that is slow crafting, but it felt so good to soak up these new skills, just having fun, playing, having a go, challenging yourself a little and being open to whatever happens and failure or faults can be part of that. Without any expectations.

You become completely absorbed in what you're doing and so, being away from house and hearth, I could allow myself to forget about what I ought to be doing and focus on the now.

Catherine Price writes beautifully about this in The Power of Fun, and it made me think about why I have always been so drawn to working with willow, having had to be methodical and highly organised in the past, in the office. There is something wonderfully unruly about working with natural fibres, as it has its own ideas. You can show it where you want it to bend, but sometimes it has other plans.

I weave, forget to have lunch, and I stop worrying about stuff, as I'm focused and in the moment. Solving problems in relation to specific commissions, adapting techniques, but also playing and tweaking.

It belongs to a different rhythm, perhaps a different time. It has less to do with productivity. I'm still aiming for perfection, but letting go, enough to have fun, and be resourceful and allow myself to learn while being curious about what happens next.

I'm slowly changing the mantras in my mind, being more forgiving, living without expectations, letting go of the old stresses and thoroughly enjoying what I do and having fun with it!🌿

23/09/2026

I'm a bit behind with posting, so this was in August, when a group of pure beginners made these awesome baskets in Tenterden. Tony brought some of his own willow from Shoreham and I assisted him with splitting and then shaving it, so the thick rods could be used in his basket, just like they did in the olden days, but something you don't see done so much nowadays, as it's time consuming. It made for a lovely light basket.
Lovely, creative bunch and some really interesting conversations were had too.
🌿
Next up in Tenterden is a whole weekend's worth of weaving! Well, why not.
🌿
I have just two spaces left for the Sunday, 11th October, should you wish to join us. Weave a tray, kindling or foraging basket in a day, and notice how immensely relaxing it is for you. You're creating your own basket from locally grown willow in 3D that wasn't there before, using age-old techniques. This means that you're mostly using the right hand side of your brain, while the part you use the most has time to recover, store what's gone before and recharge, making you feel on top of the world again, as if a breath of fresh air has swept through you and made you lighter.
🌿
Just take a look and book on the website: https://www.craftybasketry.website or book through the Craft Courses website and I'll look forward to seeing you soon.

Address

Brighton
BN1 5

Telephone

07775 944499

Website

http://craftybasketry.website/

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