Sally Goymer

Basketmaker

Sally Goymer first took up basketmaking in 1977 and gained her City & Guilds certificate from the London College of furniture in 1979. In that year she moved to Cheltenham in Gloucestershire where she set up her first workshop and began making traditional willow baskets professionally. In 1986 she went to France to study at the French National School of Basketry at Fayt-Billot. She succesfully completed the one year, full-time course for professional basketmakers. She has been back to France for further training and also studied under a master basketmaker in Thun, Switzerland. During this time she spent 12 years as a member of the Craftsmen of Gloucestershire, a group of self employed craftsmen and ended as chairman. She has been a member of the Basketmakers Association since 1977, has served on the committee and is currently the membership secretary. She is a member of the Irish Basketmakers Association and also Entrelac, a French basketry society. She is also a Yeoman member or the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers and a Freeman of the City of London. Sally is co-author of The Complete Book of Basketry Techniques (ISBN 0-7153-0934-X), first published in 1991 and reprinted in paperback in 1999. This book is widely recognised as the definitive work on the practical techniques of the subject. Sally has taught throughout the UK, North America and Europe, and has exhibited even further afield.

Click here to view examples of Sally's baskets.