International basket seminar

26 augusti, 2024

Basketfest with international seminar/webinar of basketry 

29-30 september 2024 – join online or in Landskrona

För svensk sammanfattning läs här

For everyone interrested in basketry or tradtional craft. The seminar will be held att Hemslöjden i Skåne (Handicraft center of Scania) situated in Landskrona, southern Sweden. You can participate onsite in Landskrona or join the free livestreamed webinar version via a Zoom-link. You can participate in one or both of the days, but only the second day is available digitaly.

Sunday 29th is an off-line event situated on site at Hemslöjden i Skåne, Handicraft center of Scania, in Landskrona, Southern Sweden. It is an afternoon and evening with demonstrations, workshops, mingling and exchange of experiences. In the evening there will be a gathering with food and drinks. 

Monday 30th is the seminar/webinar day with the opportunity to participate either on site in Landskrona or digitally via a link. Basketry is one of mankinds oldest craft and invention, a cultural herritage worthy of safeguarding into the future. Does it need safeguarding? Meet representatives from a few Europian counties as they give us an insight in how their organizations work to promote basketry in their country. All presentations will be held in English.

Hemslöjden i Skåne / The handicraft center of Scania is situated at Österleden 10, Landskrona. Read more about how to get here and places to stay here

Program Sunday 29th september, Basketfest  (only offline)
on site at Hemslöjden i Skåne, Landskrona
13.00-21.00

13.00-18.00 hrs, (1 pm – 6 pm) mingle, demonstrations and workshops:

  • Straw knot binding – Paulina Adamska 
  • Cattail weaving – Łucja Cieślar
  • Birch root coiling – Katarina Åman and Birgitta Björling Ottoson
  • How to make shavings of hazel – Kalle Forss
  • Weave a godseye with different materials – Helena Åberg
  • Grassbaskets coiling – Michael Ritter
  • How to split willow – Miriam Göransson

Also:

  • Danish willow organisation – willow work and information
  • The Swedish association of baskets and basketry – exhibition with a quiz: baskets from around the globe
  • Skruckar – exhibition and demonstrations about this particular type of basket from the part Hälsingland: Moa Bogren och Julie Cordes
  • Serfenta – a collection of polish baskets
  • Rune Svensson – baskets with roots
  • IngaLill Nilsson – Rushbaskets

All participating basketmakers are welcome to bring and showcase their work. Tables will be available.

15.00 fika – coffee and tea
19.00-21.00 food and drinks (drinks are not included in the price)

The fee is SEK 500, and includes coffee/tea and food in the evening. Maximum of 30 participants. Registration is required and you register by downloading this registrationform as a PDF and send it to korg@hemslojdeniskane.se. Last day of registration is 16 September.

Program Monday 30th september, Seminar/Webinar on-site or online
at Hemslöjden i Skåne, Landskrona and/or online via Zoom
(more details about the presentations below)

(8.15-9.00 Registration, coffee/tea and sandwich – on site participants only)

9.00-9.20 Introduction – background and the situation of basketmaking in Sweden today:
A brief description of how we have worked with promotion of basketry in, as well as how the current situation for basketry in Sweden. Sofia Månsson and Kalle Fors, Craft consultants and main organiser

9.20-9.40 Swedish basket tradition:
Join us on a basket journey through an oblong country and meet the variety of baskets in different styles and materials traditionally made in Sweden. Helena Åberg, former craft consultant, woodworker and chairman of the Swedish National Association of baskets and basketry.

9.45-10.15 Poland – Basket traditions, situation and possibilities:
Poland is a rich country in the basketry area – many techniques, different natural materials, masters of tradition. Is the basketry a “dying craft” nowadays? Paulina Adamska and Łucja Cieślar, cultural entrepreneurs and leaders of the Serfenta Association.

Break

10.30-10.50 Norway – Basket traditions, situation and possibilities:
What are the possibilities of making a living as a basket maker in Norway? Get an insight into conditions of a basketmaker aswell as the education system and basketry traditions in Norway. Hege Iren Aasdal, basket maker with a journeymans certificate.

10.50-11.20 Slovakia – Basket traditions, situation and possibility:
Tomas Mikolaj work at the Ústredie ľudovej umeleckej výroby (ÚĽUV) – The Centre for Folk Art Production in Slovakia which has a mission to safeguard and develop traditional crafts and home-made production in Slovakia.

11.20-11.50 Germany – Zentrum europäischer Flechtkultur Lichtenfels e.V (ZEF):
Center for European Weaving Culture in Lichtenfels (ZEF) is an association of institutions and individuals that promotes a lively weaving craft and aims to further develop the culture of weaving. Get a report about the situation of the basket weaving trade in Germany, the vocational school and the international weaving culture festival in Lichtenfels.
Manfred Rauh, (ZEF)

Lunch

13.00-13.40 A business based on intangible cultural heritage – Innovation model of craft revitalization:
Serfenta created their own model of working with intangible cultural heritage. They are one of the three UNESCO- accredited NGOs in Poland. Their international basketry journey has continued for 16 years and has started from the ethnographic research. Paulina Adamska and Łucja Cieślar, cultural entrepreneurs and leaders of the Serfenta Association.

13.40-14.30 The importance of organizations:
The Swedish association of baskets and basketry – Helena Åberg, chairman
The Norwegian basket organization – Hege Iren Aasdal, one of the founders
The Danish willow organization – Lotte Frederiksen, chairman

14.45-15.00 ALL HANDS ON: Basketry – exhibiting (his)stories on weaving as immaterial cultural heritage:
“ALL HANDS ON: Basketry” is an exhibition at the Museum of European Cultures and presents the immaterial cultural heritage inherent in the woven objects of the museum collection. Get to hear about how they developed the exhibition and show why large Hands-On stations that allow the visitors to experience how much skill is required to master this craft are an essential part of the exhibition. Judith Schühle, curator at the Museum Europäischer Kulturen – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany.

Break with fika: coffee/tea and sweets

15.30-16.00 Can basket making be a tool of connecting people to their local ecology?
Eellgrass, a hands-on lecture: The creative studio, Feral Malmö has been working on and developing formats in which traditional crafts are a medium to create relationships between urban humans and the nature that they share their cities with. The lecture will explore how to collaborate with eelgrass as a material to make baskets but also as a tool to heal broken relationships with the nature around us. Inna Zrajaeva, co-founder of Feral Malmö.

16.00-16.30 Finland – Handicraft technique of the year:
Basket weaving is designated by the Taito-Organization as the craft technique of 2024 in Finland. Taito-organization is a nationwide organization composed of the Finnish Crafts Organization Taito and regional crafts associations.
Kikka Jelisejeff, Development manager at the Finnish Crafts Organization Taito.

16.30-17.00 Panel discussion: about moving forward, reflections from the day and if there are people in the audience who have a topic to share (notified in advance).

The seminar is organized by 
Skånes Hemslöjdsförbund (The handicraft association of Scania) in collaboration with Nämnden för Hemslöjdsfrågor (The National Swedish Handicraft Council), Korgföreningen för korg och korgslöjd (The Swedish association of baskets and basketry), ABF Skåne and ABF Skåne Nordost.

Registration

  • If you want to join only the free webinar on monday 30 september, send an email to korg@hemslojdeniskane.se

Do you want to stay another day? Tuesday 1 October there will be two full-day courses with Łucja Cieślar and Paulina Adamska, the Polish duo behind Serfenta, in making baskets of staw and cattail. You register separately for the courses hemslojdeniskane.se/kurser

Detailed information about the seminar/webinar presentations

Introduction: Sofia Månsson and Kalle Forss, Sweden
Sofia Månsson and Kalle Forss have both work as craft consultants since more than 20 years. The are the main organizers of the seminar and will give a brief description of how they have worked with the promotion of basketry in their professional roles, as well as what the current situation for basketry seems to be in Sweden. hemslojdeniskane.se

Swedish basket traditions: Helena Åberg, Sweden
Take part of a basket journey through an oblong country and see examples of a variety of baskets in different styles and materials. There is a rich and varied basket tradition in Sweden, which is due, among other things, to our different climate zones. The knowledge of making baskets is an intangible cultural heritage worthy of protection. Despite that, several techniques are threatened by weak regrowth and difficulties in finding the right material. The positives include that forces from different quarters are working together to strengthen the basket’s fragile position.

Helena Åberg, is a former crafts consultant and one of the project leaders for the project Raising basket knowledge. Today, Helena work as a woodworker and is, among other things, chairman and founder of the Swedish National association of basket and basketry. Instagram.com/slojditra

Baskettraditions, situation and possibilities in Poland: Serfenta 
(Paulina Adamska and Łucja Cieślar), Poland
Is the basketry a “dying craft” nowadays? Serfenta started from a deep research, they crossed thousands of kilometres to discover why basketry is awesome and how it is done. Poland is a rich country in the basketry area – many techniques, different natural materials, masters of tradition. They are going to present the conclusions from 16 years of gathering knowledge and gaining experience from traditional masters of basketry, which led them to creating an original model of teaching crafts.

Paulina Adamska is a cultural anthropologist and educator, the Serfenta Association leader. She is responsible for business developing and international sales. A craft instructor experienced in teaching basketry skills and she loves especially willow, straw and rattan. She gained her knowledge by studying artistic crafts at the University of Art and Crafts in Poland and by practising crafts with the most outstanding masters and artists in Poland and abroad.

Łucja Cieślar is the entrepreneur, the manager, and a craft instructor. She loves to transfer the knowledge and skills from the older generation of Polish basketry masters to new generations, new ideas. Furthermore, she believes that the transmission is the future. Her favourite work is with the great Polish botanical material – cattail, typha latifolia, rogożyna – which almost passed away as a basketry material. serfenta.pl/en instagram.com/serfenta/

Norway – Baskettraditions, situation and possibilities: Hege Iren Aasdal, Norway
Hege will tell us about the possibilities of making a living as a basket maker in Norway. We will also get an insight into the education system and basketry traditions in Norway. There is a great variety of baskets in Norway, traditionally made from many different materials, which are harvested locally and are mostly split into thinner pieces.

Hege Iren Aasdal is a basket maker with a journeyman’s certificate and for 3 years has had a scholarship for the Norwegian Institute of Handicrafts. She has specialized in making the baskets that have traditionally been called husflid / handicraft in Norway. They have previously not been part of the curriculum for basket makers. kurvmaker.no

Slovakia – Baskettraditions, situation and posibility: Tomáš Mikolaj, Slovakia
Tomáš Mikolaj work at Ústredie ľudovej umeleckej výroby / The Centre for Folk Art Production in Slovakia. The Centre for Folk Art Production (ÚĽUV) has a mission to safeguard and develop traditional crafts and home-made production in Slovakia. Both in the past and today, it focuses mainly on looking for, mapping out and protecting crafts that are dying out; it then develops them by means of various activities, connecting the information and skills of the best producers with the knowledge of ethnologists and the vision of designers. The result is an original artist’s work which respects traditional craft processes, patterns and materials. uluv.sk instagram.com/uluvslovakia

Zentrum europäischer Flechtkultur Lichtenfels : Manfred Rauh, Germany
Weaving craft is an intangible cultural heritage (IKE) of Germany. Only a few decades ago, it was of considerable economic importance – today it is searching for new ways. Characteristics of IKE: history, present, future. Zentrum europäischer Flechtkultur Lichtenfels (ZEF)´s task is to promote weaving craft and make it known. The aim is to document the knowledge and provide impetus for a possible future. As Germany’s only vocational school for wickerwork design, they has a key role to play in the future of the craft – to pass on the traditional knowledge and skills of the IKE. A documentary film and an exhibition show the creation of the graduation pieces. Within Europe, there is a strong desire for exchange and networking between weaving cultures. This is exactly what living craftsmanship needs! ZEF organise the most popular annual international Weaving Culture Festival in Lichtenfels (Upper Franconia), the Ger- man city of wickerwork. International and regional exhibitors show new works; exhibitions, short film festival ‘Weaving Culture – Flechtkultur’, workshops, specialist days – core elements of an attractive offer for professional exchange. And an excellently attended speciality market with economic significance.

Manfred Rauh is a biologist and animal ecologist, but for ZEF he is project manager for the promotion of weaving craft and international networking. And he is the organiser of the annual international Weaving Culture Festival in Lichtenfels.

A business based on intangible cultural heritage – Innovation Model of Craft Revitalisation: Serfenta (Paulina Adamska and Łucja Cieślar), Poland
Serfenta created their own model of working with intangible cultural heritage.They redesigned the Intangible Cultural Heritage base in the process of a deep understanding of users needs for creating a new products and services. Business is where the idea and passion meets a market. Serfenta is one of the three UNESCO-accredited NGOs in Poland. Their international basketry journey has continued for 16 years and has started from the ethnographic research. Leaders of the organisation are experts at modern and business approach to basketry craft. Serfenta created their own Business Model, thanks to which they earn money to carry out activities regardless of external funding. Serfenta’s goals include sharing, promoting, and managing knowledge about the intangible heritage of basketry. Their activities cover workshops (mostly Polish techniques and materials) and expert events about the meeting point between cultural anthropology, craft, and market and bringing the craft experience to everyone. In 2022, Serfenta received the Jeonju International Award for Promoting Intangible Cultural Heritage (JIAPICH) with strong focus on sustainable business. They are also finalists of New European Bauhaus Award 2023 with the Innovation Model of Craft Revitalisation. The motto of Serfenta is “craft experience available for all”.

https://serfenta.pl/en https://www.instagram.com/serfenta

The importance of organizations
Representatives of a few different organizations explain how they work with the promotion of basketry. How did it start? What is their purpose? Who are their members?

Riksföreningen för korg och korgslöjd / The Swedish association of baskets and basketry: Helena Åberg, chariman

Norskt korglag / The Norwegian basket organization: Hege Iren Aasdal

Pileforeningen / The Danish willow organization: Lotte Frederiksen, chariman

ALL HANDS ON: Basketry – exhibiting (his)stories on weaving as immaterial cultural heritage: Judith Schühle, Germany
The exhibition “ALL HANDS ON: Basketry” at the Museum of European Cultures presents the immaterial cultural heritage inherent in the woven objects of the museum collection in a modern, refreshing way. Judith Schühle will explain how they developed the exhibition and show why large Hands-On stations that allow the visitors to experience how much skill is required to master this craft are an essential part of the exhibition. Judith Schühle works as curator at the Museum Europäischer Kulturen –  Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany where she is responsible for Immaterial Cultural Heritage and the photo collection. She recently curated the exhibition “ALL HANDS ON: Basketry”. smb.museum/flechten

Eellgrass: hands-on lecture – Inna Zrajaeva, Sweden
”Can basket making be a tool of connecting people to their local ecology? Can it be a method for ocean literacy and teach us how to lead different lives?” The creative studio, Feral Malmö has been working on these questions and developing formats in which traditional crafts are a medium to create relationships between urban humans and the nature that they share their cities with. During this hands-on lecture co-founder Inna Zrajaeva will explain Feral Malmö’s approach through the example of the local marine plant, eelgrass. Eelgrass has an important environmental role in Landskrona, Malmö and the larger Skåne region. The lecture will explore how to collaborate with eelgrass as a material to make baskets but also as a tool to heal broken relationships with the nature around us.

https://feral.design
https://www.instagram.com/feral.malmo

Handicraft technique of the year in Finland: Basket weaving – Kikka Jelisejeff, Finland 
Basket weaving is designated by the Taito-Organization as the craft technique of 2024 in Finland. During the year basket weaving has been promoted as a hobby and information about basket weaving is being spread in many different ways, for example the exhibition ”Baskets from near and far”. The exhibition is an overview of the different techniques and materials used in basket weaving and the different forms of baskets.The exhibition has been assembled by the Taito-Organization and produced in cooperation with the Craft Museum of Finland. Taito-organization is a nationwide organization composed of the Finnish Crafts Organization Taito and regional crafts associations. Finnish Crafts Organization is an active producer and developer of crafts services and it also promotes the crafts culture as a skill and a trade. Kikka Jelisejeff is Development manager at the Finnish Crafts Organization Taito.  taito.fi/ajankohtaista/vuoden-kasityotekniikka
https://www.craftmuseum.fi/en/craft-museum-finland/exhibitions-and-events/temporary-exhibitions/woven-baskets-near-and-far

Hemslöjden i Skåne / Handicraft center of Scania is situated in the old train station of Landskrona, a small city in the southern Sweden. Address: Österleden 10, Landskrona. More practical information about living and traveling can be found here.

If you have trouble with the registration or have any questions please contact us at:
korg@hemslojdeniskane.se or

Sofia Månsson, craft consultant in Skåne/Scania +46 (0)70-918 80 77 sofia.mansson@hemslojdeniskane.se

Kalle Forss craft consultant in Skåne/Scania +46 (0)70-269 99 85, kalle.forss@hemslojdeniskane.se