This is a handled basket made of Lithuanian pine roots.

Japanese and Asian woven crafts mainly use bamboo, grass, or tree bark and vines, but in Japan, braided products made from tree roots are rarely found.

Pine’s cold tolerance seems to be a good match for Lithuania’s northern location and long, cold winters.

And in Lithuania, baskets have long been woven using tree roots.

Near Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania, there are people who have been weaving baskets for several generations. They are sisters Ila and Anna.

Ila and Ana go into the forest themselves, harvest the roots of native pine trees, and weave. In Lithuania, it is rare for people to harvest and weave their own materials, including willow.

The roots are collected in the summer and woven in the winter of the same year. Summer is dry and the barked wood is more prone to breaking, so weaving in the humid winter is more suitable for this purpose.

This page introduces four types of circle shaped baskets,
“one-handle” and “double-handle” types in S and M sizes, respectively.

Let us introduce each type.

Pine root baskets woven without using a wooden mold.
If you look closely, you can see that each one has a slightly different shape and texture.
That is also its fascination.

Over time, the color of the pine roots will gradually darken and deepen.
We hope you will enjoy the changes that occur from time to time.

Please select the type you prefer.

–Lithuanian baskets–

Lithuania has many lakes, including Lake Vistytis, as well as many wetlands and wooded areas,
and the overall topography is gentle and flat, with no mountains of varying heights.

Perhaps for this reason, even in cities, nature such as wooded areas is a familiar part of daily life,
and Lithuanians enjoy picking mushrooms and berries in the autumn.
They also pick apples and herbs from their gardens for their meals.

Although the number of baskets made of natural materials is decreasing, in Lithuania,
baskets have been used for harvesting (not for shopping or storage).
Even today, they are used for mushroom picking, berry picking, and herb gathering.

In Lithuania, the idea that “the bounty of the forest belongs to everyone” is guaranteed by law,
and there is an environment in which people can visit the forest on a daily basis.

Baskets that catch the blessings of the forest.
We can’t help but hope that Lithuania’s basket culture,
both practical and symbolic, will continue into the future.