Irish basket weaver takes craft to Glastonbury and beyond
Tom Delaney, who runs Ould Crafty from a small home in Mayo, says he feels a ‘responsibility’ to keep the ancient tradition alive.
A 31-year-old willow-weaving basketmaker in the west of Ireland says he feels a “responsibility” to keep aspects of the ancient tradition alive.
Tom Delaney, who runs Ould Crafty, says basketmaking was his “first love” and he is delighted to now be selling his handmade work from a small home in Mayo all over the world.
The former archaeologist said evidence of the use of weaving techniques date back to ancient societies in Ireland.
He said evidence of weaving has been discovered on sites he worked on dating to the Iron Age, while there have been other examples of work thousands of years earlier in the Mesolithic era.
Mr Delaney started weaving when he was 26 and has been in business for four years.
“My grandfather and great-grandfather made baskets and it wasn’t like it was a family business or anything, but my dad kept it alive just by talking about – he never shut up about it. That’s how I got the interest originally.”
He also learned from books and YouTube as well as other basketmakers around Ireland, including Ciaran Hogan in Connemara.
Now, from a cosy home near Mayo Abbey, Mr Delaney weaves baskets for fuel, eggs, bread, and babies – as well as bird feeders and decorative items such as stars, St Brigid’s Crosses and ornate skibs.
“What’s nice is people haven’t abandoned tradition – and they are a great conversation starter,” he said.
“For me, my basket is intended to be used – I say to people they’ll get 20 years out of that. The rods that we’re putting into it are that thick and they’re made to be abused.
“But from what I do hear off people, they just buy my basket and then they put it up on a shelf in the kitchen.
“I think to myself, oh, geez, first of all that’s a great honour, but isn’t that gas that it’s just like a conversation starter for people.”
Mr Delaney documents a lot of his work and travels on social media sites like TikTok.
He said he has faced potential “humiliation” by putting himself online, but added: “I knew that I had to do it because I’m from a village at 300 people and I don’t care how charismatic you are, you’d be doing well to convince 300 people to buy baskets off you.”
Mr Delaney says his baskets have now been sold all over the English-speaking world, and some of his St Brigid’s Crosses have made it to China.
The metres-long lengths of willow required – and rapping irons – makes for noisy work in the small side room of his bungalow, with each rod in the weave whipping about in a vicious spiral as Mr Delaney speedily and skilfully works the basket around.
Willow rods scrape against the walls, knocking tools off shelves and making the overhead lampshade rock back and forth.
Amid a brief break in the cacophony, Mr Delaney acknowledges he needs more space.
He grows his own willow in several patches around Mayo but storing the material is becoming a problem, especially after a full harvest.
Every spare space in the house becomes full of batches of willow, leaving him only the narrowest of paths to walk around and work in.
Mr Delaney, who occasionally has others helping him, said: “I’d love if I had space. I’m boxed into the corner of the room – and that’s something that I really want to get after in 2026 to say that we’ve gone up a level in life and in business.
“I’ve worked to my own strengths with what I had – a small space and a mobile phone – but now it’s to go up a level, to produce more, and keep things in stock.”
Mr Delaney says he still has lots to learn in the area of weaving, having recently travelled to the UK to learn how to make a chair.
He is hoping to develop his skills in square baskets, and is setting his ambitions on making larger structures like a willow house.
“I would weave anything, I’m not afraid. A house is next – and I have the willow.”
It was trying his hand at watercraft that took him and his business to unexpected places.
“I started making boats about two or three years ago – and it’s the best craic I ever had.
“When I started gathering rods on the roadside in Mayo, the last place I thought I’d end up was a music festival – but that’s what got me to Glastonbury this year (2025).
“There’s not many makers of these boats and whether we wanted it or not, it has put us in a slight position of great responsibility.
“I know that going forward into the future, I better start doing better historical research.”
Mr Delaney said he has tried to say yes to every new opportunity that comes his way, which has led to him taking his weaving to other music festivals such as Electric Picnic and All Together Now as well as workshops with the National Museum in Mayo.
“All the opportunities that have came up this year (2025) have been exceptional – and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to recreate us in my whole entire life.”
He has also developed weaving courses and has started working with community organisations such as men’s sheds and Alzheimer’s groups.
He says this allows him to do a second job as a historian, as he can “drag stories out of” the people who have the “living memory of everything”.
He added: “When you hear the laughter of what goes on in those rooms, it is a lot more than basketmaking.”
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