Where did Wild Heart Willow Coffins begin?

It all begins with Rosie.

Rosie was my aunt-in-law, and the person I always felt closest to in Tom’s family.  We always used to talk about how we wanted to find a different name for each other - “Aunt/niece-in-law” just didn’t fit somehow.  It was too formal.  Rosie was anything but formal.

She was a proper free spirit.  Amongst many other things that she did and brought to the world, Rosie was a gardener and an activist, passionate about protecting and preserving all things wild.

Rosie died on the 8th February 2015.  She was only 61.

Rosie wanted a willow coffin, and my mother-in-law, Jane (Rosie’s sister), knew someone who made them.  Having made baskets on and off for a few years by then, Jane invited me to spend the day with her and Roger Fowle making the base of Rosie’s coffin.  It was such a special time.  While we wove, we told stories about Rosie, we cried, we laughed. I learned many new things about this amazing woman I hadn’t had enough time getting to know.

Something dropped into place for me that day.  Something that had always been missing for me when it came to basketmaking.  As much as I love making small baskets - useful, functional things for people to use in their daily lives - there was a deeper, almost more sacred experience I had tapped into whilst making a coffin.  I knew on that day that this was what I wanted to do.

Fast forward a few years, and in early 2020, just before Covid-19 really rocked the world apart, Tom and I spent 4 days with the brilliant Mel Bastier in Wales learning how to make willow coffins.  Soon after that, Wild Heart Coffins was born.

The name ‘Wild Heart’ is something very personal to me due to certain experiences I’ve had in my own life.  But when I think of Rosie, and how her death inspired this amazing journey of mine, I feel a stronger and stronger connection between us.  I feel her spirit with me all the time.  She’s the true Wild Heart at the centre of what I do.