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Carried Forward by Hand

How do we tell the stories of history? How do we carry on crafting traditions that tell a wide story? These questions walked with us as we explored Colonial Williamsburg.

It felt like a lot to weed through all of these questions, one that any teller of history grapples with. We know we would do it through making, and the idea that craft carries forward by hand what parts we are saving really kept resonating with us again and again.

We saw a lot of White Oak baskets in use, but none that were currently being made. We saw the shape of our peg rail collaboration again and again throughout Colonial Williamsburg, and didn’t see it still in production. The more we dug into these missing pieces, the more we decided to find out by doing.

Taking all of these ideas home, we knew we wanted to make White Oak baskets, but the craft had fallen into the endangered list: how can we carry something not being made?

So we launched a traditional White Oak Basket Apprenticeship with local practitioner Micah Wiles with support from South Arts Traditional Arts and the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen. The process will take time as we build a team that can resurrect the craft. In the meantime, our coat hook is out in the world, and our cobwebber hearth broom made with organic broomcorn grown right here in Kentucky is also celebrating what it means to make practical goods right from the land.

The whole collaboration is a celebration of making things of a place, were thankful for the opportunity and excited to see how this all unfolds.