Angela Cole is an award-winning basket designer-maker whose practice sits at the intersection of tradition, landscape, and contemporary form. Rooted in ancient craft, her work draws deeply from the rhythms and materials of the natural world—most notably willow, harvested from managed beds, and woodland finds shaped by season and place.

Working primarily with woven willow, Angela creates a range of pieces spanning traditional baskets, framed trugs, and garden structures, alongside more sculptural forms that blur the boundary between utility and art. Her distinctive honeysuckle baskets—Twisty, Pod, and Flow—are defined by their expressive, steam-bent rims, where twisted lengths of wood dictate the final silhouette. In these works, the material leads; each curve and irregularity becomes part of the design, resulting in pieces that feel both intentional and alive.

Angela’s process is physical, patient, and immersive. Complex baskets can take days to complete, each one entirely handmade and responsive to the character of its materials. This commitment to craft connects her to a lineage stretching back thousands of years—from the Neolithic Sweet Track in the Somerset Levels to the enduring traditions of rural Britain.

Today, as interest in sustainable making and heritage skills resurges, Angela’s work feels especially resonant. Using coppiced wood, foraged elements, and renewable willow, her practice is wholly sustainable. Each basket is unique, carrying within it the story of its making and the landscape from which it came—an everyday object that quietly restores a connection to nature.