Inspired by time spent learning basketry in the Philippines, this two-day workshop explores the making of a functional woven backpack rooted in both tradition and place.
Across Southeast Asia, woven backpacks are valued for being lightweight, durable, and deeply connected to regional materials, often crafted from rattan or pandanus, with distinct forms shaped by local knowledge and environment. In this workshop, we reinterpret these forms through a bioregional lens, working with locally grown and processed skeined willow.
You’ll learn how to transform raw willow into a structured, wearable object, developing a backpack suited to contemporary urban life while grounded in traditional making techniques. Alongside practical skills, we’ll reflect on material sourcing, locality, and the relationship between craft and environment.
This workshop is suited to participants with some prior experience in weaving or hands-on craft.
Structure
Day 1 (10am to 5pm)
Introduction to materials and bioregional context
Splitting and skeining willow rods
Beginning base structures and foundational weaving techniques
Day 2 (10am to 5pm)
Building form and structure
Completing the body of the backpack
Finishing borders and integrating straps
What’s Included
Locally grown and prepared willow materials
Step-by-step guidance and demonstrations
Individual support throughout
A finished (or near-finished) wearable backpack
Maximum Capacity: 8
The OmVed Café won't be open so please bring your own packed lunch.
About the workshop facilitator:
Éamonn Ó Hairtnéada is an Irish/Dutch multidisciplinary visual artist, garden designer, landworker and craftsmaker based in Devonshire, England. He explores the tensions between rurality and urbaness, labour intensive craft practices and visual arts; attempting to soften the edges of where creativity begins and ends in post capitalist production. Using the materiality and metaphors of weaving to explore holistic, regenerative and ecological narratives. He studied an MA in Regenerative Economics at Schumacher College. He co-hosts Hedging with Faggots and Friends hedgelaying courses and has recently designed a public garden; The Interwoven Garden at De Ateliers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
About OmVed Gardens:
OmVed Gardens is a garden, exhibition, events, and learning space in North London dedicated to exploring the connections between food, ecology and creativity for health and climate resilience. We are on a mission to inspire ecological awareness and action, and deepen our understanding of interconnectedness with the natural world.
As a registered Community Interest Company, all our activities prioritise social and ecological objectives. Whether collaborating with chefs, creatives, gardeners, or schools, OmVed Gardens is a hub for education, connection, and action. We aim to inspire individuals and communities to reimagine their role in building a healthier, more resilient world.
We work to increase biodiversity - of species, seeds, food systems, and participation, through regenerative gardening, seed saving, habitat creation, and ecological education. Our space serves as a living example of how urban areas can be transformed into thriving ecosystems that support both human and non-human communities.
Sign up for our monthly newsletter for tips from the garden and kitchen and hear about our upcoming activities:
www.omvedgardens.com · @omvedgardens
Refund Policy:
Tickets are non-refundable, except in cases where an event is sold out and a waiting list exists for the session. Refund requests can be made up to 10 days prior to the session. Please write to us for any refund inquiries.
