Naturally Useful

I’ve always called myself a jack of all trades and master of none — at least when I compare myself to Eddy and Jenny, my two favourite basket makers. But after 30 years of weaving, I’ve realised mastery isn’t really the point. What matters is the making itself.

Basketry has been my passion for three decades, and what still excites me — even after all these years — is how easily willow offers itself to the maker. You can grow it yourself, gather it from hedgerows, harvest it season after season. There’s something ancient and grounding about working with a material that springs so willingly from the earth.

When my hands are busy, the world quiets down. The endless chatter of the mind softens, my body relaxes into the rhythm of the weave, and before I know it hours have passed. Worries dissolve, anxieties find perspective, and I return to a steadier version of myself. In a world of instant everything — one click, one scroll, constant noise — making brings me back to something simpler and real. There are days when the pace of modern life feels so overwhelming you can almost sense the electromagnetic buzz under your skin. But weaving cuts through all that. It returns me to the earth, to breath, to presence.

I started Naturally Useful 14 years ago, leaving my work as a handwork and craft teacher in Steiner schools to follow the pull of willow more fully. I didn’t push; I just followed what I loved. And somehow, it grew — naturally, steadily, beautifully. I love passing on these skills, sharing the peaceful, mindful rhythm of making, giving others a way to reconnect with themselves and with nature. There’s something deeply healing in watching a simple bundle of sticks transform into something both beautiful and useful.

Today, Naturally Useful offers a three-month immersive training in willow weaving, plant dyeing, felting, and spinning. We have cabins on our willow field where you can stay, breathe, and slow down, and a workshop space where your hands can learn the quiet joy of creating something with purpose.

Making is my therapy, my grounding, my way home — and it’s a joy to share that journey with others.

• Skep Making
• Basketry
• Contemporary
• Garden Structures
• Hedgerow
• Living Willow
• Natural Fibres
• Recycled Materials
• Traditional
• Willow (Basketry)
• Willow Coffins
• Willow Sculpture