Korgslöjdarnas landskap: samtida och historiska perspektiv på hasselbruk

Abstract

This thesis aims to bring to light the hazel basketmaker's relationship to landscape and hazel management, with the ultimate goal being to support future collaborations between landscape conservation and traditional handcraft. Through the use of literature studies, a questionnaire, and interviews with eight professional and hobby weavers, the study shows that accessing suitable material can be a challenge for today's hazel basketmakers, unlike those who in previous centuries likely had better access as a byproduct of coppicing and shared land owning. The interviewees rely primarily on the opportunistic gathering of hazel for material, with only one weaver complementing material supply with small scale coppicing. The professional basketmakers express the most concern regarding access to material, even while hazel is abundant in their vicinity. Is this luck, or does the landscape make the basketmaker? If the conditions of the landscape make professional basket making possible, then we have the ability to make the craft thrive by establishing active management of hazel. The paper also discusses the revitalization and management of abandoned coppiced hazel using historical methods.