Carried Away: Baskets of Carmarthenshire
This exhibition explores the long history of basketry and celebrates the skill, ingenuity and working lives of people in Carmarthenshire whose livelihoods depended on these versatile objects.
Basket-making is one of the oldest crafts in the world, shaped by close knowledge of plants, landscape and everyday needs.
The exhibition reveals how baskets were carefully designed for specific tasks. Visitors will discover how makers selected and prepared materials such as straw, bramble and willow, understanding when to harvest them and how to weave them into strong, lightweight forms. Though simple in appearance, each basket reflects expert craftsmanship passed down through generations.
Highlights include the distinctive Carmarthenshire butter basket, designed to carry and display produce at market, as well as the coiled basket that was specially made from grasses and wildflowers picked from the Bishop’s Park outside the Museum.
The exhibition also explores the close relationship between basketry and coracle-making, two crafts that share materials, techniques and sustainable design. Coracles, still used on the Afon Tywi, demonstrate how ancient forms continue to meet practical needs today.
Alongside historic pieces, the exhibition includes contemporary work inspired by the museum’s collection, showing how traditional skills continue to influence modern makers and connect past practices with present creativity.
Rooted in local landscapes and communities, this exhibition offers a rich and tactile insight into everyday life in Carmarthenshire, revealing how humble baskets once played an essential role from field to market, river to home.
Skep or beehive
1800s
The term "skep" comes from Old Norse “skeppa,” meaning a straw basket once used as a unit of measure. Inspired by wild bees nesting in skeps, beekeepers created conical straw beehives, a design still seen on many honey pots today.
Coiled basket
Jeanette Grey
2022
This basket, made of grasses and wildflowers from the museum’s grounds, was inspired by the museum historic basket collection and created to celebrate the restoration of Carmarthenshire Museum and the Bishops Park.
Raymond Rees making a traditional coracle in his workshop, Old Station Road, Carmarthen
5th June 1994, Photograph by Mark Lewis
A Coracle Fisherman
Benjamin Archibald Lewis (1857-1946)
Ink drawing on card