I’m a complete nerd when it comes to “handmade” anything, whether it’s a ceramic pomegranate made in Jerusalem, or a table cloth with lace accents made in Italy, or a cotton scarf dyed and sewn in Toronto. I am so easily charmed by anything that is not mass-produced of cheap materials and shoddy workmanship.

In Nunavut, there are always beautiful handmade items to be had, from stone carvings of arctic animals, to intricate wall hangings sewn from wool fabric and leather. Until I visited Sanikiluaq, however, I had never seen anything quite like this beautiful basket made of grass.

The woman who made this was kind enough to show me the materials she used to make her baskets. She harvests the grass which is tall, straw-coloured, and hard, saving the strongest blades for the outside. She then wraps these blades around a core of several blades of grass held together. These wrapped cores of grass are then coiled into the shape of the basket, held together in a manner too complicated for me to comprehend. Waxed linen cord in different colours is incorporated during the coiling process to make designs.

The grass must be kept pliable, which this artist accomplishes by keeping them wrapped in a slightly damp cloth which is then stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. It takes her approximately four weeks to make a single lidded basket, and she can only make them between the months of May and late August. Winter weather prevents her from harvesting the grass the rest of the year.