Begun in 1977, the Baskets are one of Chihuly’s earliest mature series of blown glass.

As he explained, ”I had seen some beautiful Indian baskets at the Washington State Historical Society, and I was struck by the grace of their slumped, sagging forms. I wanted to capture this in glass. The breakthrough for me was recognizing that heat and gravity were the tools to be used to make these forms.”

Instead of fighting against the pull of gravity on molten glass, he utilized it to liberate glass blowing from the traditional restrictions of balance and symmetry.

“…(the) technique that had led to the Navajo Blanket Cylinders and a new way of blowing very thin and misshapen Basket forms derived from Indian sources. These became two of the most influential series that I created.” - Dale Chihuly

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