Article at Low-Tech magazine

For anyone who's interested, I wrote an article on basketry for Low-Tech Magazine, now on their web site here.

If you're not familiar with Low-Tech Magazine, it specialises in a deceptively deep question: What if high-tech solutions don't work? What if such solutions can't overcome fuel shortages, reduce climate emissions or feed tens of billions of mouths, or what if such solutions can't be sustained forever?

The magazine rescues dusty information on once-commonplace skills, and criticises conventional environmental wisdom regarding wind and solar power, and virtual commerce. It publishes detailed accounts of forgotten technologies, many from the 18th and 19th centuries when sciences like engineering were rapidly advancing but energy was still precious: floating windmills, optical telegraphs, sailing ships, timbrel vaulting, masonry ovens and so on. In short, it has proven one of the most thought-provoking and under-appreciated publications out there.