The reed comes in coils. Kate's are in Minnesota and Jesse's are in Wisconsin, and Joanna still has hers in Stillwater and pulls from them when she's in the mood to weave, which is the whole company now, spread across two states.
Kate
If you drive over to Kate's shop the first question is what she's got going, and there's always an answer. A new shape, a new size, some finish combination she's been working through for a month.
The toasted marshmallow finish came out of one of those. Singeing is a step everyone does, running a flame over a finished basket to take the fine hairs off the reed. Kate wanted to know what was further along than that, so she kept going, and then clear-coated it so it would hold up to being used. She was after that color on purpose.
Jesse
Jesse came at it from wood. Carving, then bowl turning, then furniture, and teaching spoon carving and woodworking classes the whole time. Baskets were always in the house, and he'd made a few, so picking them up was a short step.
The custom storage baskets get measured in quarter inches. Somebody sends the inside dimensions of a closet shelf or a mudroom cubby and the basket goes in there and fits. The bases and frames need real woodworking, which is how that side of the catalogue landed with him.
Keeping it straight
Kate and Jesse talk most days. Photos of something half-finished, a question about a rim, whether a color came out the way it was supposed to. We end up in each other's shops fairly often, and it always starts at the bench.
The patterns and the finishes are Joanna's, worked out over thirty-five years, and both of us weave from them. What moves between the shops is everything that came after. A shape Kate's testing. A frame Jesse figured out. Whichever finish is working this month.
Every basket gets signed and dated on the bottom by whoever wove it. Joanna started that in 1991 with one name on there, and it's three now.
On learning it
Anything worth learning takes practice, and a basket is no different. Come to a class, weave one with us at the table, and take it home the same day.
If you'd rather start at your own table, the tutorials are free.
