Wicker

Wickerwork is an art which may have been discovered many times in human history. Certainly, the wide range of plant fibres used to make mats and baskets shows that people have tested many different species, each leading to a technique specially suited to its nature.

It hasn't been easy for me to say why I so much like these strong, beautiful and functional weavings. Obviously they are made by hand by people from cultures closer to nature than our own; they are natural in material, in colour, in texture, as well as in their making. Yet by virtue of being (hand-)made they are artificial, just as my bitmaps of them are artificial.

Perhaps then, what I specially like is the chunky solidity and naturalness of these patterns, something that stubbornly holds on to its origins in plant tissue, even while the very being of a piece of wickerwork is its worked, woven, wickeryness. I like, too, the fact that these are weavings very different from the fine cloths and carpets on my other pages.

Basket (24k)	Cordyline Mat, Split (23k)	Cordyline Mat, Whole (11k)	Lattice (2k)	Palm (3k)
Raffia (19k)	Rattan (14k)	Wattle (20k)
Willow (6k)	Thatch (311k)

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