Posts Tagged ‘Willow Baskets’
We have just published another edition of our retail basketry brochure .
Baskets, obelisks, panels, sandwich baskets…the variety of woven products that our craft team can manufacture continues to grow.
We make our woven items using English willow, in our Cambridge workshops.
If you are interested in WinterWillow products, and in supporting the work of WinterComfort for the Homeless , than visit our basketry page on our main website and download or view a copy of our latest publication.
You can find our basketry pages here .
WinterComfort are attending the Hope Street Yard Urban Larder fair on the first Saturday of every month.
Supporting the Cambridge Link-Up presence at the market you can find WinterWillow woven baskets, garden ornaments and other willow goodness on sale.
Why not drop by and see us on the first Saturday in the month, particularly while the weather is good – perfect for that garden obelisk or hanging basket.
As the nights begin to darken you can also find your perfect seasonal gift on the stall too – helping to support Cambridge Link-Up , a homeless led community group.
This news item comes to you from The Willow Way – our blog about social enterprise and willow.
Image: A member of the WinterComfort team checks the stall display…
Roger Fowle, our weaving tutor at WinterWillow, has written a short account of his journey in willow.
Describing how he got started, what captured his imagination and those who gave him help along the way.
Roger is working both to support the weaving team at WinterWillow and to help encourage the take-up of weaving skills by the users of our Centre at WinterComfort for the Homeless.
Roger says that ‘…willow weaving is a great way to acquire useful new skills, to get back into work or to create objects which can be sold to support the work of our charity’.
The weaving team at WinterWillow are always happy to show visitors their work and to encourage others to take up the craft.
From small baskets, woven eco-coffins can grow.
Members of the WinterWillow team were in Liverpool this week. We were attending a meeting at Mildmay House, the organisation which provides accommodation and support for those experiencing homelessness in the Toxteth area.
Part of the Chapter One group of service providers, they have created a new social enterprise, Bloomin’ Baskets, which delivers products manufactured by service users at their centre, to customers at the various market stalls they maintain across the city.
We were meeting with a variety of organisations from across the country to discuss the possibility of creating a supply network for social enterprises in our sector.
There are many successful social businesses emerging, who serve those with experience of being homeless, so that the idea of creating a network of such businesses to supply each other with sectorally created goods or services was very well received.
Networking is not a new idea in the third sector. The goods and services we offered as a group were not radical either. However, what the group could offer was a supply chain network where organisations could share revenue, good ideas and social business support as a distinct group – directly contributing to the development of ethical sales.
These are very early days, yet each city and community fosters a diverse range of goods within its area – getting those goods to a wider market and increasing the benefit to service users can only be a good thing?
Our meeting was itself facilitated by the 3xE network – watch this space for more network creation news.
We are delighted to announce that WinterWillow, part of the charity WinterComfort for the Homeless, will be presenting a willow woven eco-coffin at the Chelsea Flower Show this year.
Running from May 25th to May 29th 2010, Chelsea offer visitors an amazing array of floral displays, trade stands and visitor attractions. We are proud to be a part of the horticultural festivities this year.
We use only the best English willow in the making and craft of our eco-coffins and wider basketry items. The cultivation and sustainable cropping of willow is an abiding theme with the WinterWillow team.
Using no nails, metal fastenings or chemical based adhesives – our woven eco-coffins are a perfect piece of English craft for Chelsea – fully in sympathy with the ethos of the show, the care of living things and their sustainable use.
WinterWillow will be sharing a space on the Places of Change stand, along with other social enterprise and Spark Challenge organisations.
If you visit the show you will be able to see an example of one of our woven willow eco-coffins throughout the show week. The WinterWillow team will be in attendance on Wednesday 26th May 2010.
Do visit us at the show if you are attending. Every item we take orders for goes directly to support the work of our charity team at WinterComfort for the Homeless. We look forward to seeing you there.
WinterWillow has introduced a new item in its woven willow range of garden oranaments and accessories for 2010.
We are able to offer our customers a WinterWillow designed hanging basket – a conical shape, with woven hanging loop. We are offering the basket as a plain item, or with liner and flowers complete.
Each basket is individually made by our craft team. Each basket is therefore unique and offers you a delightful addition to our regular obelisks and other woven baskets.
You can download a basketry brochure from our woven basket page on the WinterWillow website.
Susanna works with our team of volunteers, staff and centre users to create woven willow products for our social enterprise, WinterWillow.
Directly involved in developing willow products for our basketry and garden range, Susanna brings both enthusiasm and an artistic sensibility to her engagement with the team.
Her experience as a maker and tutor is an invaluable part of the WinterWillow process.
The short film below shows Susanna finishing a Wishing Star from our range – ideally illustrating how much care the WinterWillow team put into even the smallest woven product.
If you would like a pack of Wishing Stars you can download our basketry and garden brochure from our basketry page on the WinterWillow web site…order form included if that helps?
You can visit the home page of our charity WinterComfort for the Homeless here.
See what the energy of taking The Willow Way can support.
As mentioned in a previous Willow Way entry we are building new web pages for our WinterWillow web site that will let you buy our retail baskets and garden products with one click.
We are not quite there yet – but have uploaded a short price list and order form for our baskets and garden products. It features short biographical information on WinterWillow, a price list and an order form that you can copy, print or post back to us with your requirements.
You can also use our contact us page to ask for information.
You can download our list on the following pages…
Our general baskets page
Our obelisk page
If you do buy a WinterWillow woven basket – thank you.
To access our stored documents you can download a free copy of Adobe Reader here.
We really liked this five minute film from the Scottish Borders. A group of willow sculptors are cropping, weaving and distributing their made objects through the woodland at Wooplaw.
The film really captures both the beauty of willow as a material, but also the great pleasure in working with the material out of doors too.
The pleasure of successfully making your own basket, ‘bird box’ or simple decoration goes without saying.
If you would like to take part in a WinterWillow workshop, use our contact us page on our main website and we’ll add you to our contact list for our next event.
WinterWillow is a member of Hertfordshire Basketry.
The group will have a stall and members on hand for the next Festival of Living Crafts at Hatfield House.
This four day event takes place at Hatfield House between 6th and 9th May 2010.
There will be the widest variety of crafts – from woven items, to jewellery, fashion and ceramics.
A great event to see how weaving as a historic and traditional craft sits comfortably alongside other skills, both ancient and contemporary.
See you there?
You can find the Hertfordshire Basketry Group web site here.
