Dresden & Company uses new technology to bring innovation to traditional basketmaking
An Ohio-based startup founded in 2019 is pushing the boundaries of cutting-edge basket technology as it continues growing going into 2025.
Dresden & Company, a basket boutique and home accessory business based in Dresden hopes to continue its 2024 momentum after introducing two innovative techniques and unlocking one-of-a-kind designs.
"At this point in our life cycle, we've really hit an amazing stride in terms of basket innovation, and we've really embraced some new technology to help us do that, such as 3D printers that we use to design and manufacture our baskets," said Michael Kennedy, Dresden & Company's creative director.
"We also started using new materials in weaving some of our baskets. We integrate metal into them. We've really kind of tested our boundaries and stretched them."
The new proprietary seasonal designs use 3D-printed molds and metal wiring to craft more complex baskets with multiple axes, including fruits and vegetables, snowmen, Santa, seashells, footballs, black cats, leprechauns and many more.
"Nobody's really doing anything like this," Kennedy said. "Over in our basket workshop, they're continuing to look for new materials, new techniques, new weave patterns."
Forms and functions
Dresden & Company experienced a lot of trial and error as it devised ways to make modern forms that could still be removed after a basket was weaved around them. "We call it a fall-apart form," explained Andy Wolfe, Dresden & Company's director of product development and manufacturing.
"I'll carve it out of foam first," Wolfe explained. "We'll weave around the rigid foam so we can see what it looks like and then start to make adjustments. Then we'll go to 3D printing, and we'll take what we think we know is the right thing to do, we'll print one, and then we'll react.
"When the basket's made, (we'll) pull the center out, and all the pieces are left inside the basket," Wolfe noted.
"We have really evolved and elevated the design process of basket-making," Kennedy added. "Between the 3D printer and new materials, that's really given us a ton of new opportunities. We're testing a lot of ideas."
Some designs, like one of an apple baskets, can even take on two functions. With a removable stem, it can act as either a decorative statue upright or be flipped upside down and used to hold items.
New initiatives in the works for 2025
"Over the last year and a half, we've really skyrocketed and are just doing some amazing basket design. We are working on some new initiatives for (2025)," Kennedy teased.
"I'm very optimistic," added Jim Lepi, co-founder of Dresden & Company. "We've been able to grow, not incredibly fast, but we are growing our base. We've got our super secret R & D program. They're coming up with new ideas every day. And the broader our network is more the ideas we get."
Kennedy confirmed new seasonal baskets for 2025, along with the return of popular designs from 2024. "We're working all the way through, like, June, July, right now. So we've got a lot of really exciting baskets planned for this year," he said.
"A creative director generally lives their job 24 hours a day, so I'm constantly watching and trying to connect dots in terms of what I see." He's already started looking at Christmas 2025 trends, too.
Company has an American-made emphasis
American-made baskets are Dresden & Company's flagship product. "We have a couple of different categories of baskets," Kennedy said. "We do have our everyday line of designs that are just good, hard-working, utilitarian baskets that you can take to the market, that you can organize your home with, that you can store things in your kitchen."
However, the company has also been developing kitchen accessories, dinnerware collections, and a gourmet food line that includes mustards, jam, salsa and dips. "We also believe that all the things that you live with around your home, including the baskets and all the accessories, really help make a statement and kind of define us," he added.
Currently, Dresden & Company employs around 33 workers. "We're really just kind of building off of historically what works well for us, bringing innovation wherever we can and really aligning ourselves with national trends and being super competitive in the marketplace," Kennedy said. "That's kind of our niche."
Dresden has a long history of basketmaking
Dresden & Company opened around a year after Longaberger Baskets announced its closure seven years ago. Longaberger attempted to reinvigorate interest by returning to its roots in Dresden in 2017.
Dresden has a long history and tradition of basketmaking. J.W. Longaberger started an apprenticeship with The Dresden Basket Factory in 1919 and later purchased the building after it shut down during the Great Depression.
It eventually led to the founding of J.W.'s Handwoven Baskets in 1973 by Longaberger's son, Dave. It later became Longaberger Baskets.
It moved out of Dresden in 1999 as sales peaked in 2000, but the late-2000s recession and changing trends in interior designs slouched sales until the company ceased operations on May 4, 2018.
Many experienced basket weavers, around 20 at the start, were brought back into the industry when Dresden & Company opened.
Where to buy
Dresden & Company products can be purchased on their website (dresdenandcompany.com). It also has numerous brochures and mini-catalogs where seasonal items can be seen. The showroom also acts as a storefront, selling items at 416 Main St. in Dresden.
Shawn Digity is a reporter for the Zanesville Times Recorder. He can be emailed at sdigity@gannett.com or found on X at @ShawnDigityZTR.