Angela Cole makes baskets. That’s a seemingly simple fact, but each basket is hand made and willow weaving baskets, especially complex designs, can take days.
People have been weaving willow since ancient times. Evidence of the use of willow and flexible woods has been found in Somerset and the ‘sweet track’ has been dated back to 3806 BC (Avalon Marshes). It has been a craft ever since, peaking in the Tudor period, and then declining after the industrial revolution.
Over the last few decades it has seen a renaissance – as people discover it as a new & sustainable craft and the desire to preserve ancient crafts. Heritage Crafts lists it as ‘currently viable’ with between 200 and 500 professionals earning their main income from it.
One of these is Angela Cole of Yorkshire Willow. Willow weaving baskets out of willow, woodland materials (the result of coppicing woodlands) and wild materials like lichen means they are completely sustainable. Each basket is unique and individual, as each is hand crafted by Angela.
The materials themselves give the baskets character. As well as making traditional baskets and framed baskets (trugs & break baskets), with which you might be familiar, Angela crafts sculptural baskets using twisted honeysuckle to shape the top of the basket. For the Twisty, Pod and Flow honeysuckle baskets the wood is steam bent into shape around the basket edge. The form of the basket is led by the shape of the honeysuckle used.
Angela was the winner of the Blue Patch Sustainability Awards Heritage Award in 2024 for her recreation of a laundry basket from the 19th Century. This basket shape and design would have been lost as the original basket was in poor condition.
She created five copies of the laundry basket for the project. She used traditional stripped white willow for the basket and handles. The plaited border is a classic feature. Angela added oak skids to the bottom of the basket to make it sturdy (wet linen weighs a lot!) and built to last.
The project was funded by The York Foundation of Conservation and Crafts, it was a finalist in The Basketmakers Association Basketry of the Year competition, and it was a worthy winner of our Heritage Award.
Angela is strongly connected to the landscape surrounding her in Yorkshire and the natural cycles of coppicing. She uses the connection in her work, experimenting with local materials and incorporating them into modern designs. The physicality of making something with her own hands that she is proud of is a key concept for Angela. She loves willow weaving baskets that combine heritage craft skills with modern design.
Yorkshire Willow is a regular exhibitor at The Great Yorkshire Show and Angela opens her workshop to visitors for the North Yorkshire Open Studios event.
As each product is unique, and every batch of baskets is different Angela doesn’t sell the baskets directly online. To make an enquiry about Yorkshire Willow baskets or her other product, garden supports, visit Angela’s website at www.yorkshirewillowbaskets.co.uk
