UP! - North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

From software
...to basketware
IT expert goes back to the future to discover a new career
DIGITAL-AGE IT expert Christine Brewster went
‘back-to-the-future’ to discover fresh digital
dexterity and a second career in hand-made
willow basketware.
Although a successful contractor in the IT
sector, working with blue-chip corporates in
the south-east, Christine had always enjoyed
leisure time handicrafts such as quilting and
dressmaking. She even found time to be a
conservation volunteer with the Berkshire,
Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife
Trust.
Then, in 1993 she took part in a two-day
basket-making course. “I just got hooked on
this centuries-old craft and started to go to lots
of training courses, including some in Poland
and Ireland. I used to make baskets for friends,
developed my own stripey styles, and then
began to get commissions.”
She gained City & Guilds qualifications, was
asked to give basket-weaving demonstrations
and private lessons, and now regularly runs
basket-making courses for individuals and
interested groups.
“Giving up IT and combining my passions for
craft and conservation by setting up my own
basketmaking business was the natural
progression.”
Christine’s second career path has led to a
stable-loft workshop on the Englefield Estate in
the North Wessex Downs AONB from which she
has successfully run her StripeyBasket business
for the past seven years.
For most of her work Christine uses willow,
some from Somerset and some grown in
Berkshire. She makes a wide-range of
baskets, but also plant supports, willow
sculptures and weaving repairs to rush,
cane and wicker furniture.
“Fortunately, people buy my work
as fast as I can make it and I was
probably one of the few businesses
to get busier during the recession, largely
thanks to the support of local purchasers.”
“I still miss the regular income I got from my
contracted IT work, but have no regrets about
losing the commuting and office politics.
Instead I have gained my freedom, and now
work doing something I love in wonderful
country surroundings.” ■
UP! On The North Wessex Downs | 23