Ciao, I am Alessandra Floris from Sinnai, in Sardinia, and I have been a basket weaver since 1994.
Although I come from a family of embroideries, I became fascinated by waving after attending a local workshop and decided that I had found my calling, despite the difficulties I knew I would encounter.
For starters, there was nobody growing the right wheat.
For basket weaving, you need a particular type of wheat, called "Grano Capelli", which has a longer, stronger stem and a smaller flower head (and less seeds, which is ideal for weavers) but it also has to be grown on ground that is protected from strong winds, which could damage it: so nobody wanted to plant it anymore.
Eventually, together with one of the teachers from the workshop, I set out to grow my own, and to arrange for the gathering of the rush, the other main material for weaving baskets, which grows wild alongside rivers and streams.
Fortunately, along the way, we made a wonderful discovery: the Grano Capelli makes excellent bread, which is another incentive to grow it!
It takes about one and a half months for the materials to be ready to be woven and each basket is individually hand decorated with drawings, inspired by local traditions or sometimes just images from magazines that we reinterpret.
We use predominantly red and black in our designs, with red representing joy and celebrations and black associated with sadness.
In past times, you would have your best basket, "Su Strexu Bonu", which was part of a girl's dowry and used only on special occasions, and the everyday version, "De Maniggiu".
It takes at least 7 hours to make a basket, and most people who chose to buy them now are private clients.
Although I can say that I have made baskets in every possible shape and size following our village's weaving tradition, I am now breaking from the past and enjoying experimenting in creating other forms and shapes, anything from clocks to mirror frames, chandeliers and lampshades, even hair clips and earrings.
I also run short courses and workshops, in the winter months, for those if you who might want to learn something about the traditions and crafts of Sinnai, my village.
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