About Me
I grew up in the Cumbrian village of Milnthorpe, and spent my childhood outdoors hiking & cycling around the hills and woods of the Lake District with friends and family. This landscape and environment are home to me, I feel connected and my work is inspired by and drawn from the surroundings. The need to rely on this landscape, the woodland, fire and water, can be challenging yet so rewarding.
I’m passionate about nurturing this environment and its heritage and in my more romantic moments, I would say I’m inspired by working with the elements, not battling against them. Although on a cold February morning when I can’t feel my fingers, I might say differently.
I’m aware it’s not a conventional lifestyle I have chosen and I’m often asked how I ‘ended up’ here.
Originally I left Cumbria to study Social Anthropology and Archaeology at Manchester, and after the degree I began to feel burdened and suffocated by urban life, rushing home whenever possible to volunteer or work on conservation projects. When the choice came to pursue a post-grad I just knew it wasn’t the right direction for me and I planned to travel around and WWOOF for a while. My first stop was Sprint Mill and after spending a week coppicing, making gates and benches with Edward Acland I knew there was a way for me to move home and make a living, so I signed up for a three-year apprenticeship in coppicing and woodland crafts with the Bill Hogarth MBE Memorial Apprenticeship Trust in 2010.
Before starting the apprenticeship, I attended a swill basket-making workshop with Owen Jones, and although I didn’t realise then, the die was cast.
During the apprenticeship I tried my hand at all sorts of woodland crafts, like hurdle making, cleft oak fencing and gates, furniture making and pole lathe turning. I loved it all but nothing got me going like weaving oak. Towards the end of the apprenticeship, I was still unsure how to make my business work, but the love of weaving stayed with me so in spring 2013, I attended a Basketry and Beyond course in Devon, learning to make contemporary bags from woven ash with Jamin Uticone of Swamp Road Baskets. It was a pivotal moment when I realised that I could apply this style to oak and create products with a finer finish from woven oak.
It was also around this time, through a mentoring programme run by the Small Woods Association, that I was introduced to furniture maker Sebastian Cox. He helped me realise that I could make something contemporary while still being true to traditional skills. We collaborated over some years and together we have created a range of benches and stools with woven oak seats.
With some more clarity of direction and renewed enthusiasm, I disappeared down (what some have called) my ‘Basket Making Rabbit Hole’. I was determined to build a sustainable life making baskets that both inspired me and had a place in the contemporary world.
Owen & I now manage a woodland together and work very closely with our independent businesses. It has been a joy as the relationship developed from master/apprentice into one of friendship.
I may have fallen in love with the craft but I’m not purely romantic about it. This is a challenging lifestyle, and the realities of the woodland and the physical nature of the basket-making process can take their toll.
It is undoubtedly a difficult way to make a living. There aren’t many things that are so labour-intensive and involve harvesting the raw materials as well as making the product. But that’s also the joy of it – it’s such a soulful way to live. The trees I’ve felled this year won’t be cut for another 25 years or so. It is a much longer cycle than we’re used to working in these days and I like that pace – it’s very stilling. And there’s something about the oak itself – the feel of it, the smell (delicious!), the textures and colours. It’s hard to explain, but it’s a connection that goes deep. I just need oak in my life.
My brush-carrier companion helps me to connect with the landscape that I love so much. I take it with me as a loyal companion. It likes to hold my brushes as I paint. I meant to gift this to a friend but I got too attached. I'll just have to buy another.
L'al Yak Basket Bag