What does modern basket making look like? Basketclub is a gesture to explore

The multidisciplinary artist and designer Adrianus Kundert has been making baskets since 2016 – a completely manual process he was naturally drawn to as a hands on maker. The designer really began to hone in on the craft though in 2020, during lockdown – a moment where everything felt “frozen-in-time”, he says. Interested in deepening his skill and understanding of the age-old discipline, Adrianus became quite prolific, building all sorts of baskets all whilst keeping in touch with fellow Canadian designer Jamie Wolfond across the pond.

“We were exchanging ideas and materials and then at some point we thought maybe it would be nice to start a club,” says Adrianus. “we thought it would be fun to ask some friends that were also into basketry to join and make an Instagram account about it.” And so the beginnings of the @_basketclub_ were born: The club that weaves baskets based on an emoji.

Since the initiative was founded in online, the pair thought it best to create briefs for making baskets that were related to online culture, so an emoji became the visual cue to respond to. From what might have initially seemed to be a small group’s niche interest, the club’s focus on this ancient art of weaving gained so much attraction that after five weeks Adrianus and Jamie had to start doing open briefs for everyone to get involved in.

Since then there have been over 350 baskets made as part of the club, the now yearly (formerly monthly) emoji briefs giving just enough constraint to excel in the task while also leaving lots of room for creative freedom and time to play. “I think some of the best baskets are the ones where you can read the emoji visually,” says Adrianus. “I guess a basket is sort of like a puzzle on how to bring all these things together. How can you make something that is referring to the brief visually? Part of that is probably an interesting material or innovation. You can bend the rules.”

A number of designer’s submitted baskets have been put into production or led to other creative ventures. Sharing some highlights from the project Adrianus mentions multidisciplinary maker Simone Post’s Candy Basket, becoming the starting point for her transformation of Hermes Japan’s Spring window display into a world entirely made of out sugar, as well as designer Chris Kabel’s candle holder for brief 24 being picked up by Hay.

Pulling in makers from all over the world, Adrianus is always surprised by the range of responses to the project: “It really goes beyond your own imagination, it goes beyond what you as a maker yourself could do and that’s where the richness of Basketclub comes from – this huge variety of making that comes together,” he says. With designers offering different skills and techniques from localised lineages of making as well as using of materials that might only be available in the country they’re in, everyone found their corner of this quite specific craft.

This multivarious perspective on what basket making could be is something that Adrianus wants to hold onto. “Unlike many textile techniques nowadays, that are modernized and mechanized, basketry remains a very hands on craft,” he says. After all these years of doing it, the designer is “not so convinced that basketry has a future”, because of its inability to be mechanised.

In between briefs at the Basketclub there has been space to wonder what contemporary basket making might look like. “It has been incredibly interesting to delve into this with a lot of people, like, not just me, but all these different perspective on what basketry could be,” he says. Finding new ways to archive and present the project Adrianus is now questioning: “How can we take this moment in time that was so beautiful and brought so many beautiful products out? How can we capture it and sort of preserve it for the future?”

As the project moves forward Adrianus’ focus then is on “preserving it all somehow”. So, each year the maker looks for an exhibition space to display the work from that years open brief. The current brief for Basketclub: 🪡 will be shown at Schloss Holenbegg, a cultural institution for design and applied arts in Austria as part of their Knit and Weave exhibition, opening 3 May 2025.