In our restless modern world, Basket Weaver Ella Merriman has discovered the quiet and restorative effects of the ancient craft of Rush Basketry. Ella describes her work as ‘love letters to mother nature’ and hopes to connect people to the natural world through her work, sharing some of the amazing benefits it has had for her personally.

“When I first began studying Rush Basketry I was suffering with eczema and topical steroid withdrawal. I was constantly itchy and felt very disconnected from my body. Weaving with rush really helped me to quieten my mind and as well as keeping my hands busy, allowed me to enter an almost meditative state. This helped me find a quiet and joyful place within me and I was able to begin reconnecting with my body through making.”

“Although I love living in London, it is sometimes tricky to feel connected to nature here. However, through weaving with rush I have found a wonderful sense of grounding and feel far more aware and respectful of the plants and green spaces that surround me in this city.”

Always with a love for both the natural world and creative projects, Ella originally used the skills she has amassed from studying Furniture and Product Design at university to start a sustainable underwear business, designing and creating organic underwear. It was a steep learning curve and she was shocked by how difficult is was to source sustainable and ethical fabrics and how far they had to travel. 

Ella left the business after three years and decided she wanted to focus on working with completely biodegradable materials. She chose to study Rush Basketry at City Lit and instantly fell in love with the material and craft.

“I feel very privileged to be able to work with a material that I can harvest and process myself and I very much see the stems and my work as being alive. The rush is constantly changing, no matter what form it is in, whether in texture or colour so I believe that my work offers people a tangible connection to the earth and to our ancestors. Basketry is one of the most ancient crafts that can be found all over the world and so I think the experience of holding a handmade woven piece can often feel very visceral.”

After learning the craft of rush basketry at City Lit Ella ordered herself a bolt of rush from the only UK company she could find to deliver it. Her further study of the endangered craft came from reading books in her local library and the Basketmaker’s Association, as well as taking short courses to refine her skills.

“I am constantly learning, often through a process of trial and error but believe that the rush itself is my greatest teacher, I create my best work when I feel at one with the material.”

The rush basketry process starts with the prepping of the rush in advance, spraying it with water and wrapping it in an old sheet. This allows the stems to become soft and bendy, making them easier to manipulate. 

“Then I often have to play around with a mould, if it is a less conventional shape, to work out what direction I want to weave in as well as what type of weave will work best. I only have the rush that I harvested the previous year, so I have to choose which size of stem I use carefully."

The larger stems are generally used as the upright stakes, and the narrower ones for weaving in and out of the stakes. At the moment, Ella enjoys working more with the finer stems.

Ella’s ability to adapt her process and work in harmony with the material has allowed her to successfully reduce any waste during making.

“I try to use all of my harvested rush which often means working with the imperfections or weak points within stems. I reinforce weaker pieces and attempt to maximise the potential of every piece of material that I have.”

Although she has to make allowances for the material during the making process, most of Ella’s designs arrive in her head fully formed.

“I’m not quite sure where from but I think I get a lot of inspiration from the small joyful moments in everyday life. I always create rough sketches of what I want to make, to try and work out what mould shapes I need and I always have such a long to do list and never enough time to make everything I want to! Sometimes I have to make several versions of something before I am happy and I often refer back to old books if there is a specific technique I want to use.”

A typical working day for Ella starts when she gets to her London-based studio and preps her rush for the making process. 

“I then make myself a coffee and eat my porridge whilst replying to emails and making a list of what I want to do that day. I try to use the first couple of hours in the morning to do any work I need to do on my laptop before spending the rest of the day weaving. Some days I am not focussed enough to weave well and I snap a lot of rush stems. On those days I try my best to take myself out for a walk or visit a gallery if I have time.”

Part of the originality of Ella’s approach to rush basketry is her freedom of expression. She doesn’t pigeon-hole herself with specified product types or limit the potential of the material. 

“I found the line between creating art and designing products quite hard to navigate and constantly questioned whether it was worth making objects that were not functional and whether I had enough talent to make ‘art’. I no longer feel a need to define my work as art/craft/design as I believe that it can be all of these things simultaneously.”

How to define their work is something a lot of craftspeople question, but from more functional pieces to art for the home, Ella is exploring the boundaries of how this material and craft can be used.

“Ultimately I would just love to collaborate with any interior designers or architects who see the potential of rush and have exciting ideas. I think that by working together across disciplines we can challenge ourselves creatively and I would love to push the limits of what rush can do. It is such an exciting material that I am open to any type of collaboration or project.”

We look forward to seeing who Ella collaborates with next. You can follow Ella's work on Instagram here.

You might also like: In Conversation With Leather Craft Artisan Iseabal Hendry