Cindy Gidney 

 

Describe your craft in one sentence 

I create contemporary woven vessels in raffia and natural fibres using traditional methods of basketry including coiling and twining. 

 

What first attracted you to your medium? 

I have always loved raffia and made some tiny baskets back in the 1990s. 

I love the strength and durability it gives with a natural grassy feel. Raffia is the dried fibrous inner leaves of the Raphia Palm tree, native to Madagascar. 

I found a couple of vintage books on working with Raffia demonstrating when it was widely taught in schools in the 1930s/40s to make little bowls and coasters. 

However, my interest in basketry was sparked when travelling to different parts of the world and observing how basketry still remains a very important part of life in many cultures. Whenever I visit a foreign country I am instantly drawn to the local markets and shops to discover what type of basketry is still made and used. Needless to say I have an ever growing collection of baskets from my travels and from local charity shops. 

I have watched people making baskets and hats on the beaches of Brazil and joined a lady making baskets on a side street in Belize. The huge markets in Mexico and Guatemala are awash with baskets of every size and colour and if you are lucky, you can buy from the indigenous people who bring their beautiful work to sell on market days. Around 10 years ago I was visiting Morocco with a friend and was intrigued by the shoes and bags made from raffia. We found a place in the souk selling raffia and I brought lots of it home with me. I then decided to weave a really big basket to challenge my ability. This was the first basket I sold. It was purchased by a friend who had watched it ‘in the making’ in the sunshine outside my beach cabin on the north Norfolk coast. 

 

What is the most exciting/rewarding part of your process? 

I love to see the baskets evolve into the desired form, although sometimes that can change from my initial idea during the process. My initial concept of form and texture is open to changes; it needs to speak to me. It is a very slow process so there are many hours of work at different times and in different moods. I often take work ‘on location’ as you would with knitting/crochet. My hands like to be busy creating but it is never a chore, just never enough time. 

 

I enjoy interaction with people who are observing my work. I always encourage them to pick it up and feel the weight and the texture and ask me questions. I value all feedback as it informs me of what I might make next. When someone buys a piece of work, I like to find out where they might display it or who it is for. It is a very special feeling when a piece is bought and taken off to a new home. 

 

Do you have a typical day? 

I work within my family’s 50 year old business buying/selling fabrics and guiding clients on soft furnishing/interiors choices. This can sometimes be physically and mentally challenging; however my creativity shifts to basketry in the evenings/weekend when I find time to relax and stitch some magic. 

 

What inspires/informs your work? 

My affinity with the natural world reveals itself in my work. The fascinating whorls of a shell and the coiling of a basket are pure organic forms; reconnecting with my younger self who enjoyed wandering, collecting and arranging treasure from the beach or garden. I love to capture textures of the past by creating layers and detail to embrace slow erosion and palimpsest surfaces. Remnants of coastal dwellings lost to the sea. Soft muted tones, sun scorched, weather beaten and salt water-etched by ebb and time…. 

I am intrigued by early sea exploration and voyages to unknown places. 

The ancient transoceanic contacts between distinct civilisations and cultures. 

Primitive sea going vessels woven from reeds and rope. 

First encounters with the exotic - islands, reefs, shells, mangroves and palm trees. 

I am also fascinated by items that have been carried by sea to new habitats like shells, seed pods and coconuts. How far have they travelled? What have they encountered en route? What stories can they tell? 

 

 

What have you learnt through the development of your practice? 

Patience and focus and accepting that my method of work cannot be rushed. 

It is my calm after a busy day, a gentle meditative action whilst the mind-hand process slowly guides the materials. 

 

I have come to embrace that it takes time for my vessels to come into existence and is therefore influenced by my own experiences during that time. I have come to realise that they are almost a form of ‘journalling by stitch’; my thoughts and meanderings silently woven within the structure. 

 

What advice would you give to someone starting out?