A CRAFT PASSED FROM HAND TO HAND
MEET CLAIRE GAUDION
Claire's connection to basketry is as deep in her bones as Guernsey’s St Peter Port harbour, and began long before she picked up her first strand of willow. Raised in Guernsey, she grew up watching her father, Max Gaudion, weave the baskets that accompanied him through a lifetime of fishing.
The knowledge had travelled through the family, passed from his uncle before him. Like so many traditional crafts, these skills were never formally taught. They were observed, practised and passed through necessity from one pair of hands to the next. As fewer island fishermen continued weaving their own baskets, that chain of knowledge became increasingly fragile and it is a lineage that has almost disappeared. Today, Claire remains one of very few people keeping these traditional techniques alive.
ENSURING THE LEGACY LIVES ON
Claire made her first Ponier à Cou more than twenty-five years ago. It was then she committed to ensuring that these extraordinary pieces of Guernsey's cultural heritage would continue into another generation.
Claire now lives and works from her home on the border of Wiltshire and Hampshire, revisiting Guernsey often to savour its shorelines and attend the much-loved ormering festivities at spring tides. She is available for commissions, private tuition, group workshops and her works are available to buy from stockists UK-wide.
