Woven Thul Basket

Ninety-four years old when we interviewed him in his family’s home in Shrewsbury in summer 2017, Som told us that he was particularly proud of the fact that his plait work in making his baskets is very tight and intense. In fact, as he asserted with a small smile, a milk jug he wove when he was still living in Bhutan had such a close weave that no milk at all would ever spill out from the sides of the piece. Many baskets that Bhutanese plaiters now make in Central Massachusetts take innovative forms, tailored to American markets (e.g., rounded containers). However, they all have farmyard and rural household origins. Som also makes exquisitely crafted winnowing trays and different sizes of tall, oblong, covered baskets.  He weaves both doko and dalo baskets as well as the thul variety. He followed the example of older weavers as a child when learning to make baskets. These baskets take hours to make; he also tends an extensive medicinal herb garden, used to make traditional healing recipes.