The unpredictably creative, extraordinarily erudite fiber artist and basketmaker Ed Rossbach began his career in conventional style—but that didn’t last. He studied at Cranbrook Academy of Art, alongside Jack Lenor Larsen, with the Finnish weaver Marianne Strengell. Her teaching emphasized the handloom as a research tool, which could also be used to prototype industrial fabrics. Larsen embraced this methodology; Rossbach rejected it utterly.
After taking up a teaching job at the University of California, Berkeley, he explored everything but the factory: ancient Coptic textiles, the living traditions of Latin America, contemporary pop culture, his own garbage can.