Two years ago, at the annual fair in Vila do Conde, I spoke with Abílio Pereira, a basket maker from Barcelos, who told me about how hard it was to source wicker in Portugal. He also told me how he uses wood from infesting trees species to make basketwork, as it has no other uses. A few months later I visited his workshop alongside photographer Matilde Viegas. Here he he works with his son and wife, who showed us the field where they plant the wicker and how this polyvalent fiber is transformed.

— IS THE WICKER YOU USE LOCAL OR DO YOU HAVE TO PURCHASE FROM ABROAD?

Nowadays I'm almost forced to harvest it in order to get it al all. It used to come from Chile, but their wages have improved a lot lately and now the labor force became very expensive so the local wicker producers gave up on this job.

— before, did YOU ONLY WORK WITH FOREIGN WICKER?

It was mostly sourced from Chile. Now I've bought a plot of land and I'm farming it, but this is a lot, a lot of work! Since April, I have never had a peaceful Sunday again! A Sunday, it's not even a Saturday, a Sunday! Because this wicker to get big and tall, to be three and a half or four meters high, it's necessary to remove the buds. It has to be picked at least once a week, and heavily watered. I never imagined it was so much work, otherwise… I only do this because I have a son who works together with me full-time. Otherwise, because of my age, I wouldn't risk it. I've spent a lot of money to buy a plot of land. Making the plantations, covering the ground with plastics to put the posts up so there are no growing weeds around because the weeds will often destroy the wicker. And I've spent more money on this crop hoping to make some profit out of it. Thank God I have wicker as good as the one that was coming from Chile, yes I do, ma'am. But it has given me so much work. That's why I know that many people, even when having the necessary conditions, chose not to grow it because it's so expensive. It's not cheaper than buying it abroad if we had where it came from. I preferred to buy it abroad because I would earn more money making the items at home than producing the wicker.

— SO THESE BASKETS AREN'T MADE OF PINE WOOD...

This is acacia wood. You don’t know what is an acacia tree, do you? Do you know what’s a “mimosa” tree (Acacia dealbata)?

— YES, OF COURSE.

They are from the same kind.

— THEY’RE ALSO SIMMILAR TO ‘AUSTRALIAS’ [ACACIA MELANOXYLON]. THEY ARE ALL INVASIVE SPECIES…

Those basketmakers over there, both of them don't know what is an Australia tree. People from Porto, like you, know what it is. But they have never seen one. One of them is from up north in Guarda, [the village of] Gonçalo.

— it’s ONLY HERE IN THE NORTH REGION.

In here it's a plague. The thicker cane... up there they don't have any of this. Some time ago, a man came to me to get some cane roots, to grow bigger canes. He took some up north and it just didn't work, it hasn't died out but it wouldn't grow properly. Here in Vila Verde, it's a plague that even attacks all the trees around... I have canes at home that weigh 30-40 kilos each. And then, I also make baskets like that one. Just with one cane, I can make ten or twelve baskets during the wintertime.

— it HAS PLENTY OF YELD, RIGHT?

It becomes very profitable and cheap because no one wants to buy that [cane]: it's a plague. So, while we make this kind of products [it's useful]...

*harvested willow gathered in his workshop*

— THESE BASKETS over HERE ARE MADE OF PINE WOOD, RIGHT?

That's pine [knocking on the basket's wood]. I've made some sort of a machine, at home, like an electric wood planner... [to extract the wooden ribbons].

— BECAUSE THIS [PINE WOOD] IS A HARDER WOOD AND THESE ONES [ACACIA] HERE ARE SOFTER...

This one we can shred like the wicker cane, while this one we can't. There is some wood we place in the machine and it comes out like a ribbon, but most of them won't. We need to choose the right wood for making ribbons, otherwise we can't make it.

WEAVING THE LOCAL FLORA