JW Anderson spotlights handcrafted basket bags at Milan Design Week

JW Anderson made Milan Design Week feel less like a runway stop and more like a collector’s appointment, using the fair’s craft-minded energy to unveil an artisanal basket project with Eddie Glew. For the woman who likes her accessories to start conversations before they start matching outfits, the Basket Bag is the piece to know: it is listed at $3,900, handmade in England from British willow and finished with leather detailing developed with a London-based leather craftsperson.

The collaboration stretches beyond the handbag. JW Anderson also added a Blanket Basket at $9,350, a Log Basket at $3,900 and a Laundry Basket, all built from the same willow vocabulary and rooted in product copy that points to medieval storage chests found in stately homes. That is the luxury angle here: not logo noise, but an object that feels like it could sit in a country house and still look cool on a city shoulder. For a gift buyer, the Basket Bag is the sweet spot if you want the most wearable entry point; the Blanket Basket is the statement piece for someone decorating a home as carefully as she dresses.

The maker behind it matters as much as the label. JW Anderson describes Eddie Glew as a sculptor and master Yeoman Basketmaker. He is based on the Staffordshire-Derbyshire border, learned basket making from his late father, Peter Glew, and received a QEST scholarship in 2014. That lineage gives the project real depth, especially at a moment when so many “craft” products are really just styling exercises.

JW Anderson made the craft feel alive with a live demonstration at its flagship on Via Sant’Andrea in Milan. During the week, Glew carved flowers from a single piece of wood using a shave horse, a draw knife and his hands, and guests received one of the flowers in protective packaging with an informational postcard. The flower-making tradition reaches back to Romany heritage and to one of Glew’s earliest lessons from his father, when he learned to shape blooms from hedgerow wood with only a pocketknife.

The timing was sharp. Salone del Mobile.Milano 2026 ran April 21 to 26 at Fiera Milano Rho, and its 64th edition put fine craftsmanship and collectible design front and center. JW Anderson’s basket project fit that mood perfectly: part accessory, part heirloom, part live performance, and exactly the kind of gift that feels rarer the longer you look at it.