About Koren Reyes, granddaughter of Jose Reyes and Nantucket lightship basket repairs

About Koren and basket repairs

Koren Reyes circa 1985 I'm Koren Reyes, a granddaughter of the late, great José Reyes. I'm an expert in Nantucket lightship basket repairs. I not only work on Reyes baskets, but I will also repair Gibbs, Boyer, Brown, Cifranic, Bessette or any other Nantucket basket.

Here's my story.

I was 15 years old in the early summer of 1978 when my dad’s airline went on strike. He temporarily moved the family out of Minnesota to Nantucket to work in the basket shop alongside his dad, José Reyes.

We had always spent part of our summers on Nantucket. I had always watched my grandfather weave, sand, cut, carve, polish and wrap.

In 1978, he put me to work! I needed money to pay for the Buck Hill ski racing team back home in Minnesota.

Working in the shop

I loved the shop. I loved the smell of drying white oak, singed ivory, fresh shellac and curing Butcher's wax. I loved working with my hands and I loved the quirky customers that came and went.

My grandfather seemed to remember all of them. He was very clever about disguising his feelings about the ones he liked least.

The summer of 1978 turned out to be my grandfather’s last one in the shop. He died two years later. I, however, returned to Nantucket every summer until New York City called In 1989.

I ran that basket shop from 1979 until December 1989 without supervision, without any other family or any help for eleven more seasons (my dad was back to work in Minnesota). I did all the repairs, made new baskets, carved whales and seagulls and scallop shells and delicate handles for fruit baskets. I wove diamond-shaped baskets and other free-form (meaning mold-free) shapes. Whatever a customer could imagine, I could make.

Nantucket lightship basket broken rattan cane wrap

After twelve seasons (it was now 1989), I wanted more. I clawed my way into New York City with the help of some precious basket shop fans. I stayed in that beloved haven of opportunity and growth for 25 years. I spent the first 12 years on Wall Street, then made the radical switch to professional portrait photographer.

I left NYC in 2014 and have been dealing with separation anxiety ever since. I bought a fixer-upper in a tiny Rhode Island town that is the opposite of everything I loved about NYC.

Things have changed, however.

Shortly after the March 2020 covid-19 shut-down, a dear friend and neighbor offered me a bunch of rattan cane that she no longer needed. We use rattan cane to weave and wrap hinges and rim bindings. It truly is the basic building block of the Nantucket lightship basket.

This gift was a bit odd because, as of 2020, I hadn’t repaired a basket for 31 years! Coincidentally, I happened to inherit a slew of family baskets in 2020 and they ALL needed repair.

Nantucket basket curly rattan cane from binding Unexpectedly, I had the cane. I already had the knowledge.

Was I rusty? Sure.

That was the easy part. I just had to blow the dust off some deeply embedded skills.

The light bulb of opportunity flashed.

It was the signal to feel joyful and useful about something meaningful once again.