I've enjoyed making the little felt baskets, so I decided to experiment with some heavier, industrial felt. This mug-sized basket was my first test, made this afternoon. I was surprised to find that of all the materials I had on hand for the rim, the best-looking option was the same local birch bark I've been using for most rims since November. 
While I was working on it, I wondered what William Morris and his colleagues would have thought about my mash-up of industrial and raw natural materials?I smile when I think of their horrified, disgusted reactions.  
I think this basket is beautiful now, and I can easily picture it in the pages of some slick, white-on-white interior design mag, but I wonder if its aesthetic will stand the test of time. A hundred and fifty years from now, will our generations still be appreciating the subtleties of "rustic modern"? 
If they are well-off, then they will probably have the refined sensibilities and insight to understand this cool, restrained object. On the other hand, if they are hungry and hopeless, I think they will yearn for something more tangibly valuable and beautiful, if they can feel the yearning for beautiful at all.