Lise Bech
by Angie Boyer
What a joy it is, when concerns being voiced about the ethics of importing mass produced goods from the other side of the world, to see basketmaker Lise Bech not only succeeding, but being recognised for her skills and commitment to her craft.
Denmark and Scotland have strong historical links with each other and Lise, who was born and grew up in Denmark, has lived with her husband, Ian, in the Ayrshire countryside for more than twenty years. It is there, on their small croft in the Southern Uplands of Scotland, that she creates her unique style of basket, being self sufficient through every stage of the craft, from growing the materials to weaving the finished piece. “My initial interest in basketry was my desire to be involved with the whole process of making beautiful, useful, organic objects; from growing and harvesting the raw materials through to the design and final execution. Using only Scottish grown materials, I weave traditional as well as contemporary pieces and grow and harvest my own willow,” she told me, illustrating why her baskets are so special and stand apart from anything you might find in that mass-produced market place. “Mine is a sustainable craft with low ecological impact; by being involved with the whole basketmaking process and then marketing and selling it, I find myself working completely in tune with nature and the seasons. I am proud to tell people that my baskets are 100% handmade using traditional techniques to achieve a contemporary product - hand produced work with integrity!” Lise’s latest style of baskets look as though they might be the result of her life’s work, but she discloses that she originally trained and worked as an Occupational Therapist. “Twenty years ago I took up basketmaking as a hobby and then, ten years later, started to teach and sell.”
She has been working in her craft professionally now for about six years and in 2004 received a Creative Development Grant from the Scottish Arts Council. This enabled her to “take time out from the order book” and spend time in Germany working with basketmaker Klaus Sayfang, carrying out experimental work and developing her ideas. As a result, new work emerged, “asymmetric forms that evolved as organic pod shapes and sculptural forms”, distinctive contemporary basketry, which has been photographed and featured prominently in a wide range of publications and exhibition guides. Lise’s ‘signature’ pieces, these gently curving forms, which reflect her sentiments about the countryside where she lives and finds inspiration, may be her response to the qualities of the materials that she uses. “I have recently sourced and propagated a new variety of very pale willow which I have used for my new work along with a French variety, which is almost black. I am passionate about basketmaking,” she declares. “I get intense pleasure from using natural materials, which I hope is reflected in my work.” The combination of familiar materials and traditional skills with contemporary design creates a pleasing result which is instantly recognisable as the work of Lise Bech. It was this distinctive work which interested buyers at the British Craft Trade Fair in Harrogate last April, where Lise exhibited with eleven other makers from her region under the Develop Craft Ayrshire banner. The support she has received from this organisation has been important, not only helping her develop new markets for her work, but also in promoting the Scottish aspect of her craft.
This has been a busy year for Lise, the summer months saw the first solo exhibition of her work, ‘Cochiull’ at Taigh Chearsabhagh Gallery in North Uist, which attracted an enviable 6,000 visitors, and her work is currently showing (until 26 May 2007), in ‘Pushing the Boundaries’, a touring exhibition of new innovative work by members of the Scottish Basketmakers Circle. Throughout the year she has also been planning for two major events, one in Kent and the other in London. When I spoke to Lise in October at ‘Origin’, she reminded me that although this is only the second year that she has exhibited at the Craft Council’s London show, she had lots to be excited about. “My sculptural Contour Vase and Landscape Pods have been selected by Ruth Aram of the Aram Store as one of her favourites, to be displayed in the front window of the Drury Lane store next to the design classic ‘Missoni table’ for the duration of Origin,” she told me. Also at Origin, she was selected by Channel 4’s Grand Designs Magazine as one of their ‘Top Ten to Watch’ and was one of just six finalists in the BBC Homes & Antiques magazine’s ‘Talent Around Britain’.
I asked what, in addition to this acclaim at Origin, she considered to be the highlights of her career as a basketmaker, remembering that she is constantly moving forward with ideas and developing her work into new and exciting areas. “Exhibiting my work abroad in New York and Munich was very special,” she replied. “And the group exhibitions with the Scottish Basketmakers Circle - ‘Making Weaves’, ‘Plantweave’ and now ‘Pushing the Boundaries’ have been a great experience for me. One special joy is that I have been able to learn from real basketmakers.” The ‘Plantweave’ project that she refers to was rather unusual - in 2002 Lise was invited to work on a project using materials growing in the Royal Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh. With assistance from the Horticultural Department there, she selected and cut a number of varieties of willow, carefully labelling each different variety with its Latin name.
“My project was to get to know these different willows and incorporate them into a couple of baskets,” she explained. “I harvested armful after armful during February and March at the RBGE and was so excited to take home about twenty varieties, all of them very different from the willows I grow myself. The challenge for me was to be patient enough to wait for them to dry out and to then find a weaving technique which suited each particular type of willow, one method for thicker rods, something different for finer ones. “Basketmakers have a term they use for willow ready to be worked,” she said. “It is ‘kind’ – meaning ‘ready for the co-operation between the weaver and the willow’. You have to see what the willow will do and then do just that, you don’t go past what the willow will do. The resulting basket from this project is not only an experiment, it is also a great joy to have had the opportunity to weave with such exciting materials.”
Lise’s respect for the materials she uses and her sentiments about her craft are a constant thread through her work. “So many of the plants that grow around us have been used for making baskets in the past and can be used for that again. Perhaps people were originally inspired to weave plant materials by seeing the nests that birds make -and there is a lesson to be learnt from them; only take what you need, don’t take with greed, harvesting wild materials must be done carefully and sustainably.
“I would like to think that people would get excited about making baskets and possibly want to grow their own materials - taking a different look at the nature around them.”
This busy year of Lise’s ends in style after all her planning, with her solo exhibition ‘The Lie of the Land’ at Rochester Art Gallery in Kent. Running from 2 December until 14 January, the exhibition features her now recognisable and highly distinctive Contour Vases and Landscape Pods, which are described in the exhibition publicity as “speaking of a life lived close to nature. The organic and pregnant forms invite you to hold and hug them and to enjoy the sweet scent of willow.” Why not visit the exhibition and give it a try!
Lise Bech
T: 01290 661082
E: earthrite@gn.apc.org
www.bechbaskets.net
For details of the Pushing the Boundaries touring exhibition: exhibitions@highland.gov.uk
T: 01463 710978
To find our more about Develop Craft Ayrshire
T: 01563 554341
www.craftayrshire.org
Lise’s work is also featured in a newly available book from GMC Publications, ‘500 Baskets, A Celebration of the Basketmaker’s Art’. This inspiring book presents a fabulous collection of superb colour photographs of baskets - all using an unbelievably diverse range of materials, techniques and styles and all entirely unique. ISBN 1579907318 £16.95
