Julie At Pip Cottage

Hello, I’m Julie from Lancashire where I make baskets and sculptures with Somerset and homegrown willow in my workshop. I’ve learnt traditional and contemporary skills from renowned makers over the last 15 years to hone my skills, make quality products and develop the collections. I hope you enjoy using the baskets and appreciate the beauty and timelessness of the product you buy.I like the sustainable cycle of harvest, processing and making, and at the end of its useful life the basket or sculpture can be returned to the ground to nourish the soil and help promote next years’ growth to be used in new basketry.The willow is harvested from the field in the winter when it is dormant, graded into lengths and dried for a few months. Once fully dry it can be stored in a shed then soaked in a tank of water to make it pliable for weaving. I’m drawn to the willow Salix purpurea as it produces many fine slender rods and the willow produces some beautiful hues of coloured bark, from blush to rosy, olive to deep greens, that I use in my baskets to add subtle variations of colour.

There’s something special and rewarding about being able to make a beautiful and functional object from a natural material that you have harvested and gathered yourself and it’s something I want to share with others at markets, fairs and workshops.