The Sogetsu School prizes unlikely containers. The crucial component in this wisteria and pussy willow arrangement is the brass Japanese hot water bottle, circa 1988.
The unusual basket, almost a yard wide, is a kaiko-zaru (silkworm basket) and dates to the turn of the century when handspun silk was still a cottage industry... Mr. Saint-Gilles uses it to display his collection of omamori, protective talismans still sold at temples and shrines.