People in the Plateau region of Canada traditionally made baskets resembling this one for gathering foods like berries and wild plants. The weaving is so tight that the baskets can hold water without leaking.

I enjoy digging deeper into the meanings of designs that, on the surface, might seem simply geometric. The shape of this basket as well as the colored grass designs firmly signal the original owner was from the Thompson River Tribe. Among the Thompson River people, women weave baskets. Although design concepts are fluid and often change over time, culturally significant designs are so important they are handed down from mother to daughter.
- Tilly Laskey, Curator of Ethnology