Seven materials, traced from source to coffin

Material 01 — Willow

Buff Willow from Coates English Willow Farm

There are three main willow-producing farms in the UK — Coates, Musgroves and Somerset. The 1,000+ rods of Buff Willow used to weave our coffins come from Coates English Willow Farm in the Somerset Levels in England.

The Somerset Levels

The most important wetland area in the UK. This unique landscape provides the perfect conditions for willow growing. Basket-making willow, known as "withies", has been grown here for two centuries, and it is now the only area left where it is still cultivated for the production of baskets, furniture, garden items and high-quality artists' charcoal — a craft that in many ways has not changed for centuries.

Production of withies

Willow grows extremely quickly. In one growing season — from late May to early October — a single rod can reach up to 8ft long. New willow beds are planted in the spring using pieces of willow from the crop harvested during the preceding winter. The new willow bed will not be fully productive in the first three years, but once well established, with careful management the plants can last up to 30 years. Willow is grown sustainably: very easy to harvest and requiring no fertilisers, pesticides or herbicides.