Galloway Willow Weaver Wins UK Talent Award

Basketmaker and sculptural willow weaver, Lizzie Farey, has just won the BBC Homes & Antiques magazine’s inaugural ‘Talent Around Britain’ Award. 

She recently received a grant from the Scottish Arts Council to participate in Chelsea Crafts Fair for the first-time and she will be exhibiting there from 19 to 24 October 2004.

“It’s fantastic” is the response you get when you ask Galloway-based basketmaker and willow weaver Lizzie Farey how she feels about winning the BBC Homes & Antiques magazine’s inaugural ‘Talent Around Britain’ £5,000 bursary award.

And it must seem almost unbelievable that from mid October her sculptural willow work will be in the windows of John Lewis stores in Edinburgh, Kent and London’s Oxford Street, one of the busiest shopping centres in the UK. 

Lizzie, along with silversmith and jeweller Eileen Gatt , were two Scottish makers included in a group of 12 talented craftspeople from across the UK who were selected in collaboration with the Crafts Council to be profiled in the magazine over the past year.

The award winner was chosen by a panel of industry experts along with magazine readers, who voted for their favourite maker, and they were unanimous in crowning Lizzie the winner.

Caroline Wheater, deputy editor of BBC Homes & Antiques, said “Lizzie’s work is in a class of its own.  She has taken a traditional craft and brought her own fresh ideas to it creating not just baskets, but contemporary bowls, vases and sculptures from willow.  Her weaving technique, honed over many years, is superb, allowing her to create high-quality and long-lasting pieces.  She grows all her own willow and nurtures it from bud to finished product.  Lizzie really loves willow and it shows – she’s making some of the finest designs available in Britain today.”