North Yorkshire basket-maker celebrates 60 years at business started by his great-grandfather amid basketry revival

Mr Taylor, 76, runs J W Taylor, which was started by his great-grandfather, and has been at the current site in the village since 1867.

He grows his own willow, which is soaked in water to make it pliable, and imports rattan cane from Indonesia.

At one time the company employed 12 people. Now Mr Taylor works on his own, and has no plans to retire.

Mr Taylor said: “We can produce almost anything in willow and cane, such as pet baskets, pet carriers, shopping trolleys, children’s furniture, dolls prams and cycle baskets.

“We were recently commissioned to produce a custom-made hamper for a vintage car.”

The firm still follows the traditional methods used all those years ago.

Basket-making is one of the oldest crafts in existence and there is a direct continuity stretching back over the centuries to earlier primitive communities where baskets were essential to survival.

The craft has seen something of a revival in recent years.

As one of the widest spread and oldest crafts in the world, today’s basket makers are able to draw on a rich heritage. Now there are willow weavers and willow projects sprouting up across the country – and no machine can make a basket.

Basketry is made using a variety of fibrous or pliable materials – anything that will bend and form a shape.

Examples include pine, straw, willow, oak, wisteria, forsythia, vines, stems, animal hair, hide, grasses, thread and fine wooden splints.