Ţigania Coşurilor, in English: „Gypsy village of the baskets“, is my photo project from the summer of 2011. It is a photographic portrait of a small gypsy community in the north of Romania in which the traditional handcraft of weaving baskets is still alive. Some families live in houses made of stone, others with up to ten persons in simple, little huts made of loam containing only one or two rooms without electricity and running water.

Since it is nowadays nearly impossible to earn a living for a big family by weaving baskets only, many of the men work as day laborers for the Romanian farmers in the village nearby. They cut wood in the forests or help to bring in the harvest. During times when the farmers have no work for them, be it for seasonal reasons or because of bad weather, they get back to their traditional work and make baskets. These are offered then in the surrounding villages within a radius of about 20 kilometers – by foot of course. Fortunately in this rural environment up to the present day there is a need for these