willow basketry

& fabric weaving

Femke started weaving willow baskets after a woven backpack course with Annemarie o’Sullivan in Sussex, and has since started planting willow cuttings into the very wet soil at some parts of Fellows Farm, slowly adding to the willow areas year by year.

Baskets to transport agricultural produce have always been a fascination for Femke, who completed a Masters degree in Product design previously. She observed the use of a type of very large conical back carrying basket for traditional grape harvesting at her first workplace in Valtellina, Italy (the use of these baskets and the unique slopes with the grapevines are grown on, became a WHO protected site). Now woven backpacks and smaller picking baskets to carry across the body, often using hand made fabric for the straps, have become her main focus in producing items to sell, and often made by commission to fit each person.

Femke also has two looms to her availability at the farm, a small Saori loom, and a large Harris loom. Both are often used to produce tapestries for the straps, or smaller weaves for soft scarves in winter, all made in a ‘freeweaving style’ where the wool or material is woven in as it presents itself.