Courses Lectures Exhibitions Craft Fairs Baskets4life Burkina Weave Other Projects Previous Exhibitions Gallery Publications CV Vissinggaard Basketry Museum Treehouse   Shopping Baskets - Get Rid of the Plastic Bags, go for the Shopping Baskets! Baskets4life is an ongoing project initiated by Eva Seidenfaden in January 2006 at Vissinggaard. To create a professional, objective, and cheerful forum 10 basket makers got together in order to design and create with mutual inspiration. The perspective is to exhibit together and make basketry more conspicuous in the Danish and the international craft connection, and so intervene and take part in the public discussion about design and functionality. We want to point out the political issue in the necessity of the use of baskets and not plastic bags, and inspire creative people to see the potentials in the ideas behind the project as an innovative tool in teaching. We have extended our activities, have taken the name Baskets4life and now we offer the potential of the group for installations, exhibitions and teaching projects. We have experienced a huge expasion in forces, abilities and imagination by working together. Baskets4life in Lichtenfels The basketry fair in Lichtenfels in Germany had it’s 30th anniversary in 2009. Due to that Baskets4life were invited to create a large installation in front of the church, teach at the German basketry school, exhibit our own shopping baskets as well as the African shopping baskets at the ”Stadtschloss” and to give a number of talks on Danish basket makers, Danish traditions and the importance and innovation of the basketry going on in Denmark. We also got the opportunity to show and sell our own basketry and the African baskets in 3 stands in the market itself. It was an exciting and demanding challenge for the group. We thoroughly enjoyed being part of the huge basketry fair and it was extremely rewarding to feel what 9 people can do together when tasks are divided among us and where the dialogue is open and imagination for solving problems is huge. We hope and believe that Danish basketry once again has profiled itself as worthy, new and interesting and hope that Baskets4life can be used for similar projects in the future. Baskets4life consists of: Annette Balle Anne Folehave Anne Honoré Anne Mette Hjørnholm Ane Lyngsgaard Dorte Tilma Hanne Vistisen Marianne Mortensen Marie Skinbjerg Eva Seidenfaden YAJIBELENA The object of Baskets4life also contains a plan of creating the production of shopping baskets in a Third World context based on the Danish design. In March 2007 two groups of women in Burkina Faso started weaving on metal structure with different available materials such as bicycle tyres, goat skins, millet straws etc. The hope and the aim is to be able to sell the baskets locally in Burkina Faso as well as import them to Europe. The idea is to produce shopping baskets with individual design with a high control of quality performed by everybody in the group in each of the baskets. The hope and the idea is to be able to sell the baskets locally in Burkina Faso and to export them to Europe. If the motto: "Get rid of the plastic bags, go for the shopping baskets" is to be recognized, the baskets from Africa must be acquired in a Fair Trade context so the African weavers get a decent pay for their work. We imagine that the baskets could be given as part of employer's gifts, where the baskets can be obtained at a price which allows for presents in the basket, and in shops supporting the Fair Trade idea. The baskets are now available via Kuni.nu and more information can be obtained via Eva Seidenfaden at eva@seidenfaden.net. EXHIBITIONS The Shopping Baskets have until now, and planned in near future to be, exhibited in the following places: Exhibitions in 2010: 30.09 - 07.12: Ludvigsburg, Germany 24.04. – 06.06: Gemsinghoved, Denmark 06.03 - 21.03: Africa - Stories from Burkina Faso, Kulturspinderiet, Silkeborg, Denmark Exhibitions in 2009: Noordwolde in Holland, January Lichtenfels in Germany, September Exhibitions in 2008: African baskets, unika: Pond Cottage Art, Løkken, Denmark Kunsthåndværkermarked, Risør in Norway Basketry Festival in Vallabregues, France Værkstedsgalleriet in Kerteminde, Denmark Exhibitions in 2007: Gallery Pond Cottage Art, Løkken, Denmark Rundetårn, Copenhagen, Denmark Silkeborg Bad, Denmark Basketry Festival in Vallabregues, France Exhibitions in 2006: Landsskuet in Herning, Denmark Pilefestivalen at Moesgård Museum, Denmark Langenæs Church in Århus, Denmark Åbne Atelier in Karise, Denmark Håndarbejdslærernes årsmøde in Fredericia, Denmark Vissinggaard, Denmark CONTACT Sales of the exhibited baskets: Please contact the basket makers. Sales of the African baskets: Contact Eva Seidenfaden at eva@seidenfaden.net or contact Morten Kuni at kuni@kuni.nu. If you want to borrow the shopping baskets for an exhibition, please contact either one of the basket makers or Eva Seidenfaden at eva@seidenfaden.net. Baskets4life has it's own website at www.baskets4life.dk. Bicycle Baskets [ 16 pictures ] Inspiration for use of shopping baskets [ 5 pictures ] Work in Ouaga 2009 [ 11 pictures ] Dialog 09, Africa Now [ 11 pictures ] Burkina Faso, December 2007 [ 6 pictures ] Burkina Faso, March 2007 [ 29 pictures ] Shopping Baskets by Eva Seidenfaden [ 37 pictures ] Work with shopping baskets at Vissinggaard, 2006 [ 16 pictures ]