Copenhagen last summer at a small museum in a former manor house by a lake where rowers go by, with willow basket makers in a workshop outside….my kind of place ♥️ 🇩🇰
When one makes “stuff” in your own garden with things that have grown and then dried because one follows one’s creativity… inspiration from the world around you in your garden–
And then one day, the day after you have gotten out of bed because you have been so very sick that for the first time in your life you have had to change your flights home- because you and the family are not well enough to travel ( and when you secretly think: this is great I’ll be able to have one more of the best cardamom buns in the world and your favourite ice cream, but you are even too sick to stomach the idea of it….)
You get yourself up and properly dressed because you need to prove to yourself that you can go to the museum not far from your family’s home where you are staying – and look at one of your favourite things.
Baskets.
Thousands of kilometres away, someone else had the idea to make these nests as well. Of course they did. You are not the only one that looks at birds and what grows in your garden and then dies back at the end of the season.
But it is a surprise to you as you turn the corner into the last room on this floor through what were rooms in a manor house and serve now as the elegant back drop of art.
And you silently think to yourself. These are elevated in this setting. They are interesting because you have a moment to see them with space around them.
They come with the experience of entering beautiful park grounds, seeing sculptures in the grasses, hearing the laughter and chatter of women’s voices in the not-too-distant, with the unmistakable sounds of willow as it is woven around to make baskets. There is a class that has started with weaving students at tables just outside the out building that might have once been a barn of sorts on these beautiful grounds that are now a park.
All baskets, even in our modern industrial world, are made by hand. Someone’s skill has gone into every basket.
They have been used for everything. To carry your only belongings out of a war zone, to carry your beloved child on your back while you work with the crops, to carry your knitting to your Friday morning knitting group, to be seen carrying your organic vegetables from an outdoor Saturday market in Canada out of admiration for how it’s done in France, to carry homemade picnic goodies remembering to place the red checkered table cloth on top so that when you arrive at the picnic table next to the ocean between the marina and the high end hotel- you will be ready to set the table.
I might have too many baskets.
I have baskets for my wool blankets by the back door for use when the weather is too cold, but we want to eat out anyway; baskets of cards – blank ones that I’ve collected for one day- ( which are collecting dust at the top of a tall cabinet); baskets of candles.
I have never gone fishing with a beautiful tackle basket at a stream with my grandchild, under a roman ruin, on a warm day in Provence with the scent of lavender in the air. But I have seen others who have. When a local shop, whose owner I admire, goes to french markets and brings back all-the-goodies– sometimes there is one in there and I think– I’d love to have that basket…but so far I haven’t gone to purchase one when they emerge from the container.
I have had the opportunity to make willow baskets from a wonderful Danish Canadian woman who grows her own willow.
When Ilse died, this generous local basketmaker gave me a basket that she had made, it was made in a certain style from a particular place in Denmark. I have used it to carry my seeds to the greenhouse, and right now it is holding some special fabric that is waiting for me to make something with it- atop my fabric stash cupboard. I must liberate it, and bring it back into service in the garden, I think it will be happier.
Museums, when done well, can challenge our way of thinking. There is a basket here with no purpose. Well no practical purpose- that’s challenging in itself.
🍃
So you can picture the place, and so more wonderful examples of baskets.
I’m so happy we made it to visit this very special place.
It is lovely to see what others are making so far from my garden.
I know one thing: it is in the making that we experience the joy, calm and accomplishment that we all experience which transcends boundaries or distance. Whether we are trying to make a statement or having the fun of making something and letting the materials and the moment lead the way, this is available to all of us.
this is what I posted last March 30, 2024 after facilitating a wonderful group of women in a workshop where we made nests with materials from my place and dyed eggs. |
It was so much fun that I made my workshop into two on-line video workshops with all the step-by-step instructions so that you can do this wherever you are!
Just like the Valentines video workshop that I did where people made things over long distances on zoom with friends…this would be another lovely opportunity when your friends live in different places and you are looking for a fun way to connect.
(Next time 🇩🇰 🍦 )
I wish you peace on your path,
Lise-Lotte
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