This basket is made by Mr. Zogata, who lives in the village of Jaworzynka in the Beskid Mountains of southern Poland—near the border with Croatia, further south of Kraków—and by his apprentice.

It is woven from the roots of spruce, a pine tree growing in Europe, similar to the Yezo spruce of Japan.
Originally, large-sized Zogata baskets were made for mushroom hunting, blueberry gathering, and for harvesting and storing potatoes.

Here we introduce miniature versions of those harvest baskets, each small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. These have a structure not found in Japanese baskets, making them very distinctive.

In Poland, roots are harvested by digging them from the soil after spotting those visible on the surface.

In Japan, where bamboo, grasses, vines, and bark are abundant, basketry using roots is hardly heard of.

But in Poland, a country much farther north than Hokkaidō and with a colder climate, roots are a precious material.

Since they are “roots,” they are not straight like bamboo, but full of curves and twists. The roots are washed, selected, split into strips, and otherwise prepared before weaving begins.

The baskets made in this way truly embody the phrase “gifts of the forest.” It may sound a little exaggerated, but they could even be called a “crystallization” of the union between people and nature.

Here is Mr. Zogata, the maker of these baskets, living in the village of Silesia.

Only Mr. Zogata and his apprentice make Zogata baskets.