It’s a cold but sunny January day – there’s snow on the peaks of the Isle of Rum across the sea. We are on Catherine and Pascal’s croft, under the cliffs on the North side of Eigg, and it’s time for the willow harvest.

Willow is an incredible plant and there’s so many different varieties. On their croft, they grow around 20 varieties – some for fine basketry, while others are thicker, for hurdles or traditional work baskets. Some is reddish brown when it dries, some green and some gold.

Catherine and Pascal are basket weavers, who are known for their mastery of the craft – taking many commissions throughout the year and often asked to provide for 1:1 tuition. The different varieties they grow provide materials for many different baskets and other projects.

“Our inspiration comes from the transformation of natural materials into forms that capture and preserve the innate qualities of the living plants, their strength, beauty and resilience. Our work allows us to express our passion and commitment to traditional craftmanship. Our baskets are our purpose.”

Today, I’m getting an insight into the harvesting process. They cut the rods at the base once a year in the winter, and they send up shoots again in the spring, growing throughout summer and autumn, and the cycle begins again. A fast growing, beautiful natural material that they dry and store ready for basketry.

In a half day session we managed to cut 500 stools – a small percentage of the 4,500 they are yet to harvest. I held the rods together, while Pascal used a long reach, cordless hedge trimmer to cut them at the base. Catherine sorted them into size piles to take into the workshop to dry.

On the Retreat ‘Weave, Gather & Make’, from the 18th-22nd May 2025, they will be teaching us how to make a traditional country gathering basket using several different colours of willow. We will spend a day in their workshop and will see where the willow grows and is harvested. We will then use the gathering baskets to collect plants to use for botanical printmaking, making a set of homemade cards inspired by the landscape.

If you’d like to find out more about the retreat, you can read about it here.

I feel very lucky to have Catherine and Pascal’s as my neighbours. It inspires me to see how they grow and create beautiful, useful, sustainable crafts from their croft. They showcase how it is possible to make a livelihood from croft land, and not only that, but how to do it with flair and creativity.