This Holiday Season, we brought on our friends at Underwater Weaving to transform our Rockefeller Center windows into a basket wonderland. Erin Pollard, the founder of Underwater Weaving, was the artist behind the beautiful cascade of one-of-a-kind hand-woven baskets adorned with ribbons, garland, and, of course, stripes. To celebrate the store’s holiday transformation, we hosted an Après Ski-themed party with friends, bites (including baskets of crudités for the reindeer), and bubbles. We had the pleasure of sitting down with Erin to hear from the magician behind the magic herself 🧺🪄
KULE: What made you start Underwater Weaving? How long has it now been around?
Erin Pollard of Underwater Weaving: Two years ago, after almost 20 years of working in fashion publishing (magazines), I began hosting workshops and beginner basket weaving circles, instructing a particular kind of stake and strand technique with rattan materials. In the basket style I teach, the weaver makes a vessel from scratch, building an entire artifact from start to finish. My urge to begin teaching after only making baskets for just over a year was admittedly premature (though my mother was a weaver 35 years ago– I self-taught much of what I knew when I started). But, I felt an unshakable desire to gather people around the craft, which felt novel in the capital of high-functioning productivity: New York. When my first gathering had over 80 weavers, my intuition was confirmed: Teaching basket weaving can offer me and others a tangible purpose. I officially started the company a year ago.
KULE: What is the Underwater Weaving Club (which will be presented by KULE in December!)?
EP: The Underwater Weaving Club is a subscription to a basket weaving kit. Members receive bi-monthly original projects, access to video, and discounts, and they are the first to learn about our workshops and events, which are primarily hosted on the East Coast, but we are expanding. Many club members also join with friends so that they can host their gatherings and make baskets with their friends.
KULE: You surround yourself with many amazing women (our party is proof of that!). I know you also work with one: your mother. How did your mom and your professional partnership begin?
EP: In the ’90s, my mother Peggy taught basket weaving workshops, sold her baskets at her craft store, and made a basket called “the New England woven tote” for L.L. Bean! Soon after launching Underwater Weaving, I presented some of my baskets at the Maria McManus Spring 2024 runway presentation. I had positioned the baskets as art until then, but The Runway called ;). When a large retailer showed interest in the work, I asked my mother if she would come out of her 35-year retirement to help me produce my ideas.
KULE: What’s next for Underwater Weaving? Perhaps expanding into window dressing since you’re so good at it?
EP: Ah! I do love dressing windows… but yes, we’re exploring and expanding in all areas. I envision more beautiful collaborations with fashion, bridal, and home categories. I’d like to develop the workshops into different verticals so that people can gather with their friends for a birthday party or a brand can engage their audience to slow down and gather meaningfully around the craft. I’d love to work with medical and rehabilitation centers so that basket weaving can be used to help people. There is endless potential in design as well. We will start selling our work on some preeminent platforms soon, and I’m excited to work more closely with many industries on custom pieces.
Okay, I have a lot of work to do. Thank you for featuring me in O BOY 🙂
Event photography by Marsha Bernstein. Shop Underwater Weaving baskets, learn to weave yourself, or sign up for the Underwater Weaving Club. And come by and check out our basket-adorned 🧺 holiday windows! We’re in a prime location, right by the tree 🎄
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