The laboratory of the plot: at Bonarcado the tradition is alive

All over the Sardinian territory there is no shortage of that raw materials necessary for the work of basket weaving. From this point of view the area of Oristano is the most important and relevant area of the Island as about the processing and the creation of the traditional baskets.


Behind the ponds grow, in fact, marsh plants that provide the raw materials for the manufacture of wicker and splint baskets.


The poverty of the houses of the shepherds and the peasants of Sardinia, in the past centuries and in the recent decades, was dampened by a series of crafts, hung on the walls, that compensated, decorating the walls, the scarce presence of furnishings. From this point of view, the basket had a valence even more significant. Producing them was free. They were the result of the ability of the young women intertwining, skilly, reed, cane, willow and many other plants, to create a sublime sample of objects that were the basis of the ancient agro-pastoral kit.

Among them skilful hands grew the baskets, with several shapes and sizes, the processing began with a tissue called "Spiral", on which was wrapped, by magic, the straw that ultimately was sewn. The skill of the poor artisans focused also on creativity, or the ability to generate beautiful designs using colored straw.


The basket took shape and was embellished by a red warp, sometimes also black, which gave it a touch of elegance, and, besides being a fine decorative element, were mainly used for food storage.


Today to preserve and maintain this extraordinary history of craft and tradition, there are some who actually craft while maintaining the manual ancient weaving technique, glancing on the renewal and the ability to offer useful products, durable, functional and aesthetically valuable.


One of these artisan laboratories is in Bonarcado (OR), a small village at the foot of Montiferru, a mountainous region of central western Sardinia, in the north of Oristano. For some time the workshop, la Bottega dell’Intreccio has skillfully regained the ancient technique of "weave the warp and weft", creating interesting objects, traditionally made with poor and simple materials, but that under precise and experts gestures, generate a final practical and stylish product.


Here rushes, gorse, wild olive, elm, cane and many other shrubs, are collected and used for the production of many items including the cadinu (reed basket that was used to dry the washed grain before the milling), the pischedda (wicker basket with a handle), the corbula (truncated cone basket) and arches baskets or with lids of several kinds and sizes.

The laboratory also produces coatings for flasks and demijohns, several homewares and modern furnishings such as vases, mirrors and chandeliers.
The use of different materials and diversification of decorative patterns offers a wide and varied sample.


In these crafts relives the Sardinian nature through its main elements. The rush reminds the sea, the reed the water, the sun is imprinted in golden hay, the flavors of the land of the Mediterranean scrub dwell in the myrtle, the mastic tree, the gorse, the palm tree.


The basket is the wise reproduction of all the flavors of earth and sea and in its simplicity, in its elegance, it still plays an important role in the traditional culture of Sardinia.
The past comes to life in the present and certainly will be part of the future.


The greatest merit of the artists of La Bottega dell'Intreccio and many other Sardinian craftsmen is keeping the tradition alive; a gesture along the centuries, through exactly the same elements forged by nature is reborn each time under a different and magnificent form.