Underwater Weaving founder Erin Pollard’s pursuit of basket-weaving began in earnest after a simple question from her son about a bundle of rattan under the bed. “It was under my bed for a couple years, collecting dust. My son said, ‘Mom, what’s this?’ And so I made him a basket. Just from memory.” Though Erin’s childhood in Maine was full of baskets - her mother taught weaving classes in their basement and produced a design for L.L. Bean - she only came to the craft herself during the pandemic. “I wasn’t particularly drawn to it as a kid, it was just part of the fabric of my childhood.”
Erin had built a career in publishing and brand marketing, working with Harper’s Bazaar and Goop, before launching her own consultancy. But weaving crept in during a quieter moment. What followed that first basket was “really playing around with materials and colour. Each basket, each new piece, brought this new level of confidence for me,” she says. “I was over-posting what I was making on social media and people were asking, ‘what are you doing?’ But also, ‘will you teach me?’” So she did. The first workshop was held at her home, with twenty friends around the table. “I thought, let me see if I can teach,” she says. “I had this feeling of gratitude, and it just felt so primal - using my hands with nature and teaching my friends felt really good for my brain.”
Today, Underwater Weaving exists as something larger than she initially imagined - though it has retained the intimacy of its beginnings. Erin has collaborated with designers, florists and artists, launched a basket-weaving club, and continued to teach. “We have almost 200 members receiving our basket weaving kits on a bi-monthly basis,” she says. “We do installations for brands, store windows and ongoing collections on our website that speak to the changing seasons and holidays, but also fashion pieces that you can use when you go to the market or ride your bike.”
Erin weaves from her Brooklyn home, where she’s converted a floor into a studio. “I like to stand when I weave - sitting doesn’t seem active enough,” she says. “The morning is when I feel most creative, it grounds me and sets up my day.” Some basket production takes place in Maine, where her mother still weaves in the family’s old restaurant building. “We have certain baskets that I make, and certain ones she makes,” Erin says. “She’s faster than me… she’s a professional when it comes to producing multiples of something, whereas I just want to make a basket once and not do it again. I like to move on to the next thing.”
Erin’s approach to basket-weaving is rooted in simplicity and usefulness. “I’m certainly inspired by the Shakers and their work - the beauty in the simple forms.” Erin also cites Japanese and Italian material culture as inspiration, and seeks to restore value to the craft. “For so long, basket-weaving has been held in low esteem. Every basket is handmade, and I think every single one of them deserves the utmost respect.”
This spring, Erin is creating a window installation titled Reception for the new TOAST shop on the Upper East Side of Manhattan - a collaboration that feels both natural and new. “I’m making several oversized works with the open weave style,” she explains. “I have a framework of what I’m building, but if the materials want to go a certain way, then I follow their lead - it really is a collaboration with the materials.”
The forms draw on ancient archetypes, echoing vessels Erin saw in the Vatican on a trip to Italy. “I was inspired by these statuesque bowls and vases with lyrical forms. They were incredibly delicate, almost like hot air balloons.” Alongside the installation, Erin will host workshops. “The technique that I’m teaching is simply twining,” she says. “I never encourage people to walk out with an exact replica of what I’ve made. It’s always about finding your own voice and putting your own personality into the basket. I love the array of forms. That’s what’s so beautiful about weaving.”
We have collaborated with Underwater Weaving to create an installation of rattan baskets in our New York Upper East Side shop.
Erin wears the TOAST Linen Cotton Knitted Tank and the Stripe Cotton Patch Pocket Skirt.
Words by Alice Simkins Vyce.
Photography by Julie Pointer-Adams.
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