Annemarie O’Sullivan: crafting in harmony with nature  

Portrait of Annemarie O’Sullivan ©Alun Callender

The life and work of basketmaker Annemarie O’Sullivan revolves around the rhythms of the natural world. Born in Ireland but based in East Sussex, England, she grows more than 20 types of willow in the countryside around her home, using the harvested and dried material – along with locally gathered sweet chestnut – to create a variety of woven works, from small-scale baskets and other functional pieces to large sculptural objects, lampshades and collaborative design pieces.

Her year starts with the harvest, when the willow is sorted, bundled and tied for drying. It’s arduous work, made more so by the usually inclement British winter weather in what O’Sullivan calls “the grimmest time of the year”, but with friends coming along to help, it becomes a social event that she loves.

Once dried and prepared – and this may take up to a year – the willow is ready for use by O’Sullivan and her small team, which includes her husband Tom and her apprentice, Matilda. They employ a variety of techniques including weaving, binding, knotting and steam bending to create bespoke objects for private clients and interior designers all over the world.

Entirely organic and sustainable, O’Sullivan’s practice is born from the desire to “live lightly on the land”. She works from a wooden studio in her garden, close to the nature she loves, and embraces the natural variations in the material, meaning that no two objects are ever the same. Nature inspires her design ideas, too. “I am drawn to water, to fishing baskets and lobster traps,” she says. Other inspirations include objects she finds in museums and traditional basketmaking techniques she’s researched in her native Ireland. However, innovation is just as important as tradition. “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,” she says.

The result is contemporary work that is steeped in tradition, such as her ‘fish kettle’ basket, which plays on the form of a traditional pan or kettle used for poaching fish. Other pieces include a storage basket based on traditional French oyster baskets, and a willow and cane vessel shaped like a fishing basket.

It’s no wonder that water is a recurring theme in her work. O’Sullivan has loved swimming since she was a child, and in fact first fell in love with basketmaking when she took a one-day course and discovered that the craft invoked similar sensations. “The movements had the same feeling of fluidity, repetition, building of momentum, intensity and freedom as swimming underwater gave me,” she says.

She’s come a long way since first dipping her toe into basketmaking. For a time she taught at City Lit in London, where she first tried the craft herself, and she now runs occasional basketmaking courses out of her studio in East Sussex. Very active, physical events with some of the activity taking place outdoors, these courses not only instill a love of the craft of basketmaking, but of nature itself.

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