A Weaver's Life

Sussex maker Annemarie O'Sullivan harvests her own willow withies, from which she weaves beautiful baskets inspired by ancient traditions

- By Norman Miller. Photographs by Alun Callender, Narratives and Alamy

Annemarie finds inspiration in traditional basketry and in the natural shape and movement of the growing willow, creating large-scale artworks as well as domestic baskets

Spring sunshine spills into Annemarie O'Sullivan's cosy wooden studio, lighting shelves and walls displaying beautiful baskets woven with willow, chestnut, sweet hazel and bamboo.

Annemarie works as we talk, sitting on the floor in a wide V-posture any dancer would be proud of, slowly weaving. The baskets she makes here in the Sussex village of Isfield, north of the medieval town of Lewes, have achieved global renown: she has exhibited them across Europe, the USA and Asia. Today, she is weaving grasses into an artistic, circular shape bound for an exhibition in Somerset, to accompany her coveted basketry that includes startling twiggy lampshades and one-off sculptural pieces.

Despite her baskets' status as high-end craft, Annemarie wants them to be used, “to get crumbs in them, to get worn, to get picked up by greasy hands. It does feel really important that they have a life.”

I want my baskets to get crumbs in them, to get worn... It feels important that they have a life”

Annemarie works primarily with willow, which she grows herself and harvests every January from a watery half-acre withy bed at nearby Horam. She works mainly with the purple willow, Salix purpurea, grown in several varieties with resonant names, such as 'Dicky Meadows' and 'Lancashire Dicks'. I love these [varieties] because they are very slender and waxy,” she says.