TechnoWithy
A concept for sustainable crustacean fishing inspired by the endangered craft of Cornish withy pot making.
Today, I'm launching British Cræft Futures, an experimental series imagining how Britain could draw upon the deep wisdom of its heritage crafts to inspire innovation to solve our biggest challenges.
To begin, behold the TechnoWithy — a concept for sustainable crustacean fishing inspired by the endangered craft of Cornish withy pot making.
TechnoWithy
Imagine a lobster and crab "withy" pot 3D-printed from marine-safe biopolymers. Traditional withy pots, woven from willow and hazel, are highly sustainable and have a negligible impact on the seabed ecosystem; yet, they are immensely time-intensive to produce. This concept offers a scalable alternative to mass trawling and plastic and metal pots, bridging the gap between heritage wisdom and modern production.
The Heritage
For centuries, if you walked down a harbour in Cornwall — or indeed any fishing town — you would see fishermen carrying "withy pots", hand-woven from willow and hazel.
Withypots are both beautiful pieces of British heritage and masterpieces of ecological design. As art historian James Fox noted in Craftland:
"If, however, a withy pot disappears into the ocean, there is a decent chance its catch will eventually escape; and being constructed from biodegradable materials, it will safely decompose into the seabed, as if it had never been there at all."
Then the economics of industrial fishing killed off the withy pot.
Weaving a single pot takes a master craftsman a full day. Today, you simply cannot feed a population of 67 million with hand-woven baskets. The economics and technology of today render the withy pot essentially irrelevant.
In the 1960s, mass trawlers and a new generation of mass-produced parlour pots made from plastic-coated steel, plastic mesh, and tyre rubber entered the market — they have reigned supreme ever since. While scale is key to sustain the population, scale comes at no small cost to the ocean's ecology. Despite a quiet resurgence led by a remarkable woman called Sarah Ready, the knowledge of this craft is endangered and could be lost forever in the next few years.
The TechnoWithy revitalizes the 'designed-to-die' logic of the willow Cornish withy. Rather than replacing the craft, we aim to breathe new life into it, allowing the traditional and the futuristic to flourish side-by-side.
Furthermore, this technology could spark regional distinctiveness. Just as traditional pots varied by town, we could digitally program unique aesthetics inspired by local lore. Imagine a distinct "Blackpool," "Flamborough," or "Hastings" pot, restoring and advancing the hyper-local cultural and aesthetic identity of our fishing fleets.
Some chaps hanging out with their withy pots near St Michael's Mount, Cornwall.
The Innovation
TechnoWithy combines AI modelling and design with robotic additive manufacturing. We use AI to generate a Voronoi mesh that optimizes the pot's strength-to-weight ratio, which is then 3D-printed using PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate)—a material fermented from algae or shellfish waste, similar to the biopolymers pioneered by Shellworks.
This model moves beyond centralized factories. We envision coastal towns establishing their own local print sites — distributed micro-factories that create high-skilled manufacturing jobs directly in the communities that need them most.
Potential Value
Solving Ghost Fishing
Unlike plastic and metal pots that last forever, an algae-based biopolymer could dissolve harmlessly after 18 months. 25 million lobster pots are lost in the oceans each year, leading to "ghost gear," and the unnecessary death of over 650,000 creatures annually.
Precision Conservation
The AI-designed mesh could be mathematically tuned to specific dimensions, allowing younger crabs to escape and virtually eliminating bycatch.
Sensitive Pots
A "soft," biodegradable pot poses less risk to the seabed. This could unlock vast fishing grounds currently restricted by offshore wind farms, easing the pressure on fishermen. In James Fox's Craftland, he interviews a traditional withy pot revivalist who suggests withies could be used to fish in sensitive environments such as near wind farms, where the presence of delicate sub-sea cables prohibits the use of trawling or metal withies.
Future Heritage
Reshoring the fishing equipment supply chain, moving from global plastics to local production, securing a future for coastal economies.
Profitability
Interestingly, there seems to be a premium for withy-caught lobster. According to Sarah Ready, Fox writes, "lobster caught in willow sells for about £33 per kg versus £18 per kg for lobster caught in plastic."
Call to Withy Cræft
This is a highly speculative idea, but perhaps we could try it. Does anyone know any 3D printing experts who could help design and build one of these? Or perhaps you know a fisherman who could try it?
I have very little understanding of the feasibility of the TechnoWithy, but I thought I would try using AI video to speculate.
Read the Full Article
TechnoWithy — British Cræft Futures 001
Read the full article on Substack →