Workshop on Bendor Island

We held a bamboo basket making workshop on Bendor.

We made basic hexagonal pattern baskets.

Both bamboo and hexagonal pattern are foreign to many.

We had 8 participants including basketry enthusiasts from outside of the collective.

Luckily, the island had a few seminar rooms that can accommodate the workshop.

We started making the baskets in one facing the island beach. 

There was no concession for foreign students.

I taught just like I would do with Japanese participants.

Never mind the hexagons. Just look for the triangles...

Maybe my method was good, or we had excellent participants.

The first part of the workshop went very smoothly.

Well... It did, at least in the beginning... 

It was a lovely day in mid September.

We had a nice meal at the restaurant on the island.

Someone announced a break and proposed to go to the beach. Yay!

I never regret going to the beach on that day.

But perhaps, I was contented too much on the early success in the morning...

In the afternoon.


We started forming the body part.




It's the most difficult part in hexagonal baskets, but everyone made it.

Well...

I suddenly realized that it was a bit larger than I expected.

Zhut!

There's not enough material to bind the rim!
How stupid I was. I should've realized it when making the body.


The participants, however, were the experienced basketmakers.
They made the rim with the material we could find on the island,

bound it with rattan,

and finished by the evening.

The last ferry leaves the island at 7 pm.

"Thank you!" "Good bye!"

They ran to the port with their luggage and baskets.

Thank you, everyone!

I really enjoyed working with excellent basketmakers.

Vacation on Bendor Island

I visited l'ile de Bendor for summer vacation.

L’ile de Bendor is a small resort and not very luxurious.

But it's a gem.  

It's a tiny island off Bandol, a small vacation town between Marseille and Toulon.

Unless you have your own boat, you have to take the ferry to visit the island.

Which was actually nice.

In less than ten minutes, the ferry arrived at the port on the l'ile de Bendor.

They say it was just a rock until in the mid-20th century, before it was acquired by Paul Ricard.

The port, by Paul Ricard.

 

He was a businessman/painter/many-other-things (including being a F1 circuit owner).

The island is still run by his familly as a resort island, with a hotel, restaurants, a beach, and a creators village.

I was staying the basketmakers gallery during my vacation.

I spent my time presenting my baskets,

leading a bamboo basket workshop,
but mostly mooching around on a small island.

Tobey, the dog.

He likes beach sandals.

Luna, the cat.

She likes quiche and lizards.

 Daily trips to the Bandol market.

 Half bitten off quiche...

Mushroom with apricot flavor...

When I Arrived, the school had already started, so the central beach was quiet, even though the water was still warm.

Trekking on the coast path with pine trees...

But the best moments for me was on the quiet beach on the island.

Daytime is nice, but the morning and the evening are even more beautiful.

If you are staying the hotel, take a walk to benefit of staying on “a rock”.

Baskets from prehistoric site

Thousands years ago, people were living in huts like this in Japan. 

At least archeologists reconstructed using their imagination.

Japan is very humid. 

Organic material is usualy decomposed in years.

So discoveries like this basket is very rare.

This is a basket made from walnut bark in Jomon era.

Other evidence of basketry in prehistric Japan is found on the bottom of the pots.

They used baskets when making pot, similarly to bread dough to avoid sticking.

Transfering the pattern on the surface of the bottom of the pot.

They already had hexagonal pattern some 5000 years ago.

We don't know how it was developed or where it came from.

We don't know where they came from.

Are they our ancestors?

Sannai-Maruyama Prehistoric Site

Carrier

I was initially making a simple basket. Just the body with a handle.

But then, I realized that my teacher had a little bit different picture.

His told me that I should add more details.  

Well, why not?

Asanoha-ami (hemp pattern)

Tsuka-maki (grip binding)

Uzumaki-dome (swirl binding)

Komenoji-dome (rice binding)

Nagashi-maki (slanted binding)

Tasukigake (bracing)

I learned several rattan techniques making this basket.

It is typical to Meisters.

Artisans don't share these complicated rattan techniques.

I think they have different quality that we can appreciate.

Hexagonal Pattern Variations

Hana-mutsume (decorated hexagonal)

Mutsume (hexagonal)

Sashi-mutsume (stiched hexagonal)

Asanoha (hemp leaf)

Tessen (clematis)