Shaker Cat Head Basket

The Shaker Community, founded in New York, is known for its design aesthetic, combining form and function in simply elegant ways. This class introduces students to the Cathead base, a Shaker classic. In this form, a small, square base grows into a round basket, at the diameter and height of the student’s choosing. This particular technique of weaving corners produces four “feet” upon which the basket rests. This creates a raised base on the inside of the basket, allowing its contents to first fill the perimeter of the basket, and then the center. Disbursing the weight of the basket contents, first to the perimeter, serves to prevent produce from becoming bruised and protects the center of the basket from wearing out. Students will weave a two-by-two twill pattern for both the base and the sides of the basket.