Annemarie O’Sullivan

Basketweaver | Lewes, United Kingdom

For the love of willow

Annemarie makes baskets from willow she grows herself
The willow must be harvested, sorted and dried before using
Her favourite willow is a slender rod with a grey-green hue

Swimming underwater was Annemarie O’Sullivan’s childhood obsession, and when she made her first basket at the age of 30, she experienced a familiar sensation. “The movements had the same feeling of fluidity, repetition, building of momentum, intensity and freedom as swimming underwater gave me.” That was on a one-day course, but so captivated was she by the experience that before long she enrolled on a five-year, part-time course at City Lit in London, where she is now the lead willow tutor. Annemarie grows her own varieties of willow near her home in Sussex and from these weaves all manner of objects. Some are functional, others more sculptural, such as a recent body of work for the brand Hauser & Wirth.

Interview

©Jonathan Bassett

©Alun Callender

What do you love most about your work?: The willow harvest, because it keeps me in touch. It happens at the start of the year and is a community effort with friends coming to lend a hand, working together outside at the grimmest time of the year. The willow is then sorted, bundled and tied for drying, which takes up to a year before it is ready to be woven.
How do you put your own stamp on basketmaking?: I have learnt a variety of techniques, but my heart always returns to what I have found and researched in Ireland, especially the old agricultural frame baskets. I like to get to grips with making a piece I may have seen, but I rarely want to stick to the original. This is when creativity starts to flow.
What are your sources of inspiration?: I grow more than 20 types of willow in the Sussex countryside close to where I live and this is the basis of my work. I am drawn to water, fishing baskets and lobster traps. I also love to look at museum collections and spend time wondering who made a piece, what their hands were like and how they lived.
What advice do you have for aspiring craftspeople?: Allow yourself to fall in love with a material or a technique. Learn the way it has been used traditionally and then find your own variation and stick to it. Don’t try to be good at everything.

Annemarie O’Sullivan is a master artisan: she began her career in 2012 and she started teaching in 2013