Makers Manual is a collaborative project between exciting makers and STORE STORE. These downloadable manuals are a practical guide to making at home for beginners and experts.
All you need to make a pine needle basket/pen holder is a little bit of patience and a bit of practice. It may seem complicated at first, but once you get into the rhythm of the weave, it becomes easy to let your fingers work the materials while your mind drifts off to other matters.
Pine needles can be found in the forest all year round. Make sure you collect dry needles from the ground or from broken-off branches (avoid mouldy ones). If collected green, let them dry for at least a few weeks in a warm place as they will shrink a lot. Get yourself familiar with various pine species that can be found in your forest. Enjoy the smell!
Tamara Orjola is a Russian-born, Latvian-raised material designer and researcher based in Rotterdam. She graduated with honours from the Well-Being department at Design Academy Eindhoven in 2016, and has since gained experience working as a de- signer and consultant for international impact companies and start-ups with sustainability and well-being in their DNA. Materials play an important role in her work – as a designer living in the rise of consumerism, growing population, and climate change she finds it crucial to understand the whole value chain of materials applied. She believes that to move further we need to re-establish the connection between the consumer, industry, and our precious natural resources. Tamara is currently building her material innovation start-up called Forest Wool where she trans- forms pine needles into textile fibre.