Weaving by the Sea 2026 - booking open!

Weaving by the Sea 2026 is now open for booking! 

Booking is now open for our Spring and Autumn Schools, 15 three day workshops by expert basketmakers hosted at our favourite venue, Hotel Cesar in Vilanova i La Geltru, one hour from Barcelona international airport. 

While some of our Autumn School workshops have already sold out directly to our lucky 'early bird' mailing list members we still have some availability and we keep waiting lists for all courses just in case of cancellations. 

 

Let us know your workshop preferences and we'll do our best to find you a spot!

All the workshop details can be found here: Workshops 2026
All the booking details, prices and venue details can be found here: Booking Details 2026
Sign up for our 'Early Bird' mailing list here: Weaving by the Sea Early Bird Mailing List

2026 courses as follows:

Weaving by the Sea 2026 - Spring School

1st Courses:  3 days - Friday, Saturday & Sunday 17-19 April 2026

Mai Hvid Joergensen - Introduction to Willow Bark Basketry

Mònica Guilera - Nansa Beach Baskets

Tim Johnson - 'Nesting Season'

Day off and special evening event - Monday 20th April 2026

2nd Courses:  3 days - Tuesday - Thursday 21-23 April 2026

Mai Hvid Joergensen - Mad Weave - round trays in Willow Bark
Mònica Guilera - Date Palm Basketry
Tim Johnson - Round Basket with a fitted lid in Neolithic Braiding

 

 Weaving by the Sea 2026 - Autumn School

1st Courses:  3 days -Tuesday - Thursday 22-24 September 2026

François Desplanches - Round Fitched Waste Paper Basket

Mai Hvid Joergensen - Frame Baskets with Rush & Bark

Tim Johnson - Orkney Cubbies & Caishies

2nd Courses:  3 days - Saturday - Monday 26-28 September 2026
François Desplanches - Wire Staked Baskodenns
Mònica Guilera - Willow Platters in Nansa technique
Tim Johnson - Portuguese Cofinho Basket

 

3rd Courses: 3 days - Wednesday 30th September - Friday 2nd October 2026

Mònica Guilera - Catalan Shoppers
Tim Johnson - Knotted Netting Shoppers
Mai Hvid Joergensen - Mad Weave - round & oval trays in Willow Bark
  

Venue: Hotel Cesar, Vilanova i La Geltru near Barcelona, Spain.

Followed by Salt International Basketmakers Fair near Girona,  
Saturday & Sunday, 3rd & 4th October 2026

Weaving by the Sea 2026 - dates announced!

Weaving by the Sea 2026 - dates announced!
the Mediterranean Basketry Holiday
Hotel Cesar, Vilanova i La Geltru, near Barcelona, Spain

We are delighted to announce the dates for our Weaving by the Sea 2026 events.
We will once again offer a Weaving by the Sea Spring School and a Weaving by the Sea Autumn School. These together will comprise a varied programme of 15 workshops at our favourite venue, the Hotel Cesar in Vilanova i La Geltru near to Barcelona, Spain.

We are currently finalising our workshop details and they will be published on this website soon. To secure the workshop of your choice please sign up for our 'early-bird' newsletter to recieve details when booking opens in early January: Weaving by the Sea Newsletter

Booking for both the Spring and Autumn School will open together in January 2026, please note pre-booking is not possible!

Weaving by the Sea 2026 - Spring School

1st Courses:  3 days - Friday - Sunday 17 - 19 April 2026

Mai Hvid Joergensen, Mònica Guilera, Tim Johnson

Day off and special evening event - Monday 20 April 2026

2nd Courses:  3 days - Tuesday - Thursday 21-23 April 2026

Mai Hvid Joergensen, Mònica Guilera, Tim Johnson

 

Weaving by the Sea  2026 - Autumn School

1st Courses:  3 days -Tuesday - Thursday 22 - 24 September 2026

François Desplanches, Mai Hvid Joergensen, Tim Johnson

2nd Courses:  3 days - Saturday - Monday 26 - 28 September 2026
François Desplanches, Monica Guilera, Tim Johnson

 

3rd Courses: 3 days - Wednesday 30 September - Friday 2 October 2026

Mònica Guilera, Tim Johnson, Mai Hvid Joergensen

Salt International Basketmakers Fair, near Girona
Saturday & Sunday 3 - 4 October 2026

 

See you at Weaving by the Sea! 

 

 

Weaving by the Sea 2025 - dates announced!

 

Weaving by the Sea 2025 - dates announced!
the Mediterranean Basketry Holiday
Hotel Cesar, Vilanova i La Geltru, near Barcelona, Spain

We are delighted to announce the dates for our Weaving by the Sea 2025 events.
Following the success of the 2024 events we will once again offer a Weaving by the Sea Spring School and a Weaving by the Sea Autumn School. These together will comprise a varied programme of 15 workshops at our favourite venue, the Hotel Cesar in Vilanova i La Geltru near to Barcelona, Spain.

We are currently finalising our workshop details and they will be published here soon: Workshops 2025, if you would like details of our booking details please sign up four 'early-bird' newsletter here: Weaving by the Sea Newsletter

Booking for both the Spring and Autumn School will open together in late January 2024, please note pre-booking is not possible!

Weaving by the Sea 2025 - Spring School

1st Courses:  3 days - Friday, Saturday & Sunday 4-6 April 2025

Mai Hvid Joergensen - Introduction to Willow Bark Basketry

Mònica Guilera - Round Willow Baskets in Nansa Technique

Tim Johnson - Ugandan Grasshopper Basket

Day off and special evening event - Monday 7 April 2025

2nd Courses:  3 days - Tuesday - Thursday 8-10 April 2025

Mai Hvid Joergensen - Mad Weave in Willow Bark
Mònica Guilera - Catalan Willow Handbags & Shoppers
Tim Johnson - Neolithic Braiding - Round Baskets

 

Weaving by the Sea  2025 - Autumn School

1st Courses:  3 days -Tuesday - Thursday 23-25 September 2025

Mai Hvid Joergensen - Oval Willow & Hazel Handbags

Mònica Guilera - Star Base Willow Platters in Nansa Technique

Tim Johnson - Invisible Stitch - Braided & Stitched Rush Baskets

2nd Courses:  3 days - Saturday - Monday 27-29 September 2025
François Desplanches - Oval Willow Baskets with Scalloms
Mai Hvid Joergensen - Squarework Willow Handbags
Tim Johnson - Inspired by Kishies and Caishies

 

3rd Courses: 3 days - Wednesday - Friday 1-3 October 2025

François Desplanches - Oval Willow Tray with fitched base and scalloms
Mònica Guilera - Date Palm Basketry
Tim Johnson - Camel Looping with rush, fabric and esparto grass

Salt International Basketmakers Fair, near Girona
Saturday & Sunday 4-5 Ocober 2025

 

Weaving by the Sea 2024 - booking open!

Thank you to all our Weaving by the Sea Early Birds! we have had a great response to Sundays's booking launch and we are looking forward to meeting everyone at our Spring and Autumn Schools this year. 

Weaving by the Sea Autumn School 2024 is now completely sold out - but we are keeping waiting lists for each workshop just in case of any cancellations. 

However we still have some availability for our Weaving by the Sea Spring School, 6th-11th April, all the workshop details are on our Workshops 2024 page and you can find out how to book your place on our Booking Details 2024 page.

Weaving by the Sea 2024 - Spring School

1st Courses:  2 days - Saturday & Sunday 6-7 April 2024

Mai Hvid Joergensen - Introduction to Bark Basketmaking

Mònica Guilera - Round Collecting Baskets in the Catalan tradition

Tim Johnson - Finding Fibres - Cordage Making for Basketmaking

Day off and special evening event - Monday 8 April 2024

2nd Courses:  3 days - Tuesday - Thursday 9-11 April 2024

Tim Johnson - Inspired by Kishies and Caishies

Mònica Guilera - Nansa Beach Baskets & Handbags

Mai Hvid Joergensen - Exploring Rope Weaving Techniques

 

Weaving by the Sea 2024 - dates announced

Weaving by the Sea 2024 - dates announced!
the Mediterranean Basketry Holiday
Hotel Cesar, Vilanova i La Geltru, near Barcelona, Spain

We are delighted to announce the dates for our Weaving by the Sea 2024 events.
By popular demand we will offer for the first time both a Weaving by the Sea Spring School and a Weaving by the Sea Autumn School. These together will comprise a varied programme of 15 workshops at our favourite venue, the Hotel Cesar in Vilanova i La Geltru near to Barcelona, Spain.

We are currently finalising our workshop details and they will be published here soon, if you would like details of our booking details please sign up four 'early-bird' newsletter here: Weaving by the Sea Newsletter

Booking for both the Spring and Autumn School will open together in late January 2024, please note pre-booking is not possible!

Weaving by the Sea 2024 - Spring School

1st Courses:  2 days - Saturday & Sunday 6-7 April 2024

Mai Hvid Joergensen

Mònica Guilera

Tim Johnson

Day off and special evening event - Monday 8 April 2024

2nd Courses:  3 days - Tuesday - Thursday 9-11 April 2024

Mai Hvid Joergensen
Mònica Guilera
Tim Johnson

 

Weaving by the Sea  2024 - Autumn School

1st Courses:  3 days -Tuesday - Thursday 24-26 September 2024

Mai Hvid Joergensen

Mònica Guilera

Tim Johnson

2nd Courses:  3 days - Saturday - Monday 28-30 September 2024
François Desplanches
Mònica Guilera
Tim Johnson

 

3rd Courses: 3 days - Wednesday - Friday 2-4 October 2024 

François Desplanches
Mai Hvid Joergensen
Tim Johnson

Salt International Basketmakers Fair, near Girona
Saturday & Sunday 5-6 Ocober 2024

 

Weaving by the Sea 2023

Thank you to all our Weaving by the Sea 2023 workshop participants - so many beautiful baskets created and special moments shared over our 9 workshops over 11 days. It was such a pleasure to meet everyone travelling from near and far and we look forward to welcoming you to Weaving by the Sea 2024, we are making plans already! 

We'll be sharing more photos over the coming weeks on our Instagram page and here too with our annual gallery page. 

Weaving by the Sea 2023 is now sold out, thank you so much to all our 'early bird' members!

Due to unprecedented demand we sold out very quickly this year and we are keeping waiting lists for each course in case of any cancellations. It is still worth contacting Mai by email mai@skovflet.dk with your workshop preferences and we will be in touch if any places come up.

If you are interested in attending Weaving by the Sea 2024 do sign up for 'Early Bird' newsletter.

2022 Gallery page now online...

As we look forward to Weaving by the Sea 2023 it's a pleasure to look back at our 10th anniversary event last year, our new gallery page is now updated here: 2022

Further details coming soon for this year's course and booking details.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weaving by the Sea 2023 - course dates

It's that time of year again, we are busily preparing the programme for Weaving by the Sea 2023 and have some exciting courses in store for you!

Today we can announce the 2023 course dates and the addition of a new tutor for this years event. Following the success of our 10th anniversary celebrations last year and the demand for more workshop places at Weaving by the Sea we have decided to extend the event over three workshop periods and to invite François Desplanches as our guest tutor. 

Our good friend François is a highly regarded basketmaker and an excellent teacher based in the Dordogne region of France, François specialises primarly in willow basketmaking techniques. You can find François on Instagram here: desplanches.vannerie

Our Weaving by the Sea 2023 workshop programme is as follows, further course details will be published soon and booking opens in early March 2023. Sorry no pre-booking! 

Please sign up to our 'early bird' mailing list if you would like further booking details: 'early bird'.

  

Weaving by the Sea 2023

Sunday 24th - Tuesday 26th September

Workshops with  Mai Hvid Joergensen, Mònica Guilera and Tim Johnson

Thursday 28th - Saturday 30th September

Workshops with François Desplanches, Tim Johnson and Mònica Guilera

Monday 2nd - Weds 4th October

Workshops with François Desplanches, Tim Johnson and Mai Hvid Joergensen

 

Once again we are delighted that Hotel Cesar in Vilanova i La Geltru, Catalonia will be our 2023 venue. 

See you at Weaving by the Sea 2023!

 

 

 

 

Celebrating 10 years of Weaving by the Sea

 

Weaving by the Sea 2022 will be our 10th anniversary! 

Ten years of welcoming basketmakers from all over the world to share our enthusiasm for our craft, learn new skills and create new friendships. This year we are delighted to present our range of workshops including a selection of regular favourites and new choices representing our range of interests, personal work and research: Workshops and Booking 2022

Thank you to all our faithful 'early birds'! 

All of our 2022 workshops sold out in just a few hours on Monday morning following our booking schedule announcement to our Early Bird Weaving by the Sea mailing list. If you would like to receive advance information for 2023 please sign up here: 'Early Bird Mailing List'. 

Although our workshop have sold out we do keep waiting lists for all the workshops in case of any cancellations, if you would like to be added to a waiting list please contact Mai with your choice of workshop: Mai Hvid Jørgensen: mai@skovflet.dk 

We look forward to greeting all of our 2022 participants to Hotel Cesar in Vilanova i La Geltru, let's celebrate!

 

To whet your appetite.....

While we finalise details of our 2022 Weaving by the Sea programme some images from our 2021 workshops to whet your appetite! 

More details and photos on the new 2021 gallery page here: Weaving by the Sea 2021 

 

Weaving by the Sea 2022 - hold the dates!

Looking forward to Weaving by the Sea 2022? 

Further details coming soon, hold the dates.....

First workshops: Thursday 22nd - Saturday 24th September 

Special event: Sunday 25th September

Second workshops: Monday 26th - 28th September

Hotel Cesar, Vilanova i La Geltru, Catalonia

Sign up to our 'early bird' mailing here:

mailchi.mp/0b534a991969/weaving-by-the-sea

Weaving by the Sea 2021 - booking very last places....

 

Weaving by the Sea 2021 is now almost fully booked - thank you so much to everyone who booked this year - lets hope we are all able to travel! 

 

We still have a couple of places left so please do have a look at all six of our courses on our Workshop and Bookings 2021 page and contact Mai as soon as possible if you would like to join us in September 2021 or join a waiting list in case of any cancellations. 

 

If you would like to join our 'early bird' mailing list to hear of any updates during the year and to make sure you receive early notice for our 10th anniversary Weaving by the Sea in September 2022 sign up here: 'Early Bird Mailing List'. 

 

 

 

Weaving by the Sea 2021

Weaving by the Sea 2021 is in the planning - we shall be publishing our course details soon and can confirm the dates will be the 24th - 30th September 2021. 

Although the COVID pandemic reduced our participant numbers last year and unfortunately one of our tutors, Mai Hvid Jørgensen, was unable to join us due to travel restrictions, we were still able to go ahead with those who could travel. We had a great time and in these difficult times it was so refreshing to do some making together, of course in a safe and carefully planned way. We will be sharing some photographs shortly. 

If you would like to be one of the first to hear about our 2021 courses and details of when our bookings open sign up for our mailings here: Weaving by the Sea 'Early Bird' 

Don't miss the boat to Weaving by the Sea! 

 

 

The show must go on!

To all our friends and followers, artists and basketmakers, we hope we find you well and healthy and finding positive and creative solutions to the ongoing COVID pandemic.

Following much discussion our current position is that we will go ahead with Weaving by the Sea 2020 with all those who are able to travel and are happy to follow health and safety recommendations during their stay. This position will stand unless there is a complete lockdown in Vilanova I la Geltru in which case the event will be cancelled.

Unfortunately due to current travel recommendations our tutor Mai Hvid Joergensen is unable to join us this year from Denmark so her two excellent courses have been cancelled, however as Mònica Guilera and Tim Johnson are resident in Catalonia their four courses will take place.

We have made the decision to go ahead after much thought and in response to several emails from workshop participants expressing their continued desire to enjoy and participate in this years event. Alongside our understanding that health and safety are paramount we understand there is also real demand for positive and creative activities in these difficult times.

If you would like to book a workshop place please see the course descriptions and booking information here: Weaving by the Sea 2020 then please get in touch directly with Monica via email: monicacistellera@gmail.com

Weaving by the Sea 2020 will take place at Hotel Cesar here in Vilanova I La Geltru. Hotel Cesar is a family run hotel with only 30 guest rooms. As the family owners are also resident in the hotel we can reassure you that they are taking all necessary precautions to keep the hotel and restaurant safe for both visitors and employees.

As regards the workshops we are expecting smaller than usual group sizes which will afford us additional extra room in the spacious workshop rooms, we also have the possibility of working outdoors as the weather permits. We will follow a safe teaching protocol including the wearing of masks during talks and demonstrations and at any time we feel necessary, awareness of social distancing and individual marked tools for everyone so that we do not need to share resources.

Unfortunately Salt International Basket Fair / La Fira Internacional del Cistell de Salt, normally held the weekend following Weaving by the Sea, has been cancelled this year by the Salt Town Council. A variety of basketry workshops and willow sculpture projects will be held in Salt replacing the annual gathering of makers.

Following Weaving by the Sea 2020 you might like to visit the exhibition LOOKOUT curated by Monica and Tim at the Museu de la Pauma in Mas de Barberans in southern Catalonia. The exhibition features over 60 pieces by some of the best basketmakers working in Europe today. You can follow the exhibition on Instagram here: LOOKOUT

We hope this information helps you to decide if you are able to join us this year and we are very happy to answer any questions that you may have. We look forward to welcoming you both at Weaving by the Sea 2020 and future events.

Best wishes and happy weaving! Mai, Mònica and Tim

Weaving by the Sea 2020 update

Thankyou to everyone who booked their places at Weaving by the Sea 2020 so quickly this year nearly 60 places in 48 hours!

February now seems such a long time ago before the Coronavirus pandemic spread through Europe. Over the past week or so restrictions here in Spain are easing up a little and we now have greater access to the shops and walks in the countryside, although many of our workshops and events this year have been delayed or cancelled we hope very much that Weaving by the Sea 2020 will go ahead. If this is possible we will of course take all suitable precautions to make sure the event is both a creative holiday experience and a safe and healthy one.

We look forward to greet all our participants this year in September and in the meantime we send out our best wishes and good health to all our Weaving by the Sea friends and basketmakers.

Weaving by the Sea 2020

2020 workshop details coming soon.....

Weaving by the Sea 2020 dates

In the midst of winter storms we are compiling our Weaving by the Sea 2020 programme - we are excited to have some new courses in preparation and look forward to sharing them with you soon. We have had many enquiries asking to be added to our 'early bird mailing list' - rest assured this is in preparation and will give you prior notice over the coming weeks of course details and booking process - if you would like to be added to the mailing drop an email to Tim on: boatbaskets@gmail.com

In the meantime we can announce that the Weaving by the Sea 2020 dates are Friday 25th September - Thursday 1st October with Salt Basketmaker's Fair the following weekend 3rd and 4th October 2020. See you there!