Chatting to Karen Bek about willow weaving and basketry.

Karen was in academia, about to start a Phd, but knew she wanted to be involved in gardening so despite people saying 'you're wasting your qualifications' and takigna paycut she followed her dream and became a gardener on a large estate supporint peole with mental health challenges.

It was whilst working as a gardener she learnt how to weave obelisks and plant supports. The more weaving she did the more she wanted to learn. so enrolled on a course and did lots of different classes with different weavers over the years (and still does attend courses). As she learnt about each basket she also learnt about the heritage and history of each different basket shape and becoe even more hooked!

As a single Mum she attempted to do both roles and support her 2 children. During covid because her role was outside she was allowed to continue to go to work whilst her childern had to remain at home. She realised she was supporting people's mental health at work but her children needed it as much at home. This then brought about her next career decision to become a full time basket maker so she could be around for her children.

Karen shares each stage of her journey and how much more there is to learn from a basket and what it tell us about our history. https://www.karenbekwillow.co.uk/