If you’ve been around Nantucket lightship baskets, you’ve certainly run into Nap! Nap Plank was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1955, and in two years’ time was living in New England. He spent his childhood mucking about the backwoods of Cohasset, Massachusetts, taking things apart and learning to put them back together. During this time, Nap discovered a passion for all things nautical, spending much of his time at and around the harbor, admiring the old houses and wooden boats. Nap spent his sixteenth summer living on the HMS Ark, a 32-foot wooden cabin cruiser with his two best friends. At eighteen, he left for a four-month trip to India and Nepal, an experience that inspired ten more years of travel and work throughout the U.S. However, he always felt most at home on the New England coast. In 1982, Nap washed ashore to Nantucket following his older brother, who was working construction when he wasn’t playing guitar or bartending at the Chicken Box. Nap had always loved working with his hands, making something out of nothing, always with an artist’s precision. He met Alan Reed that same year, who imparted his basket-making knowledge and skills to Nap, and together they took Nantucket lightship baskets to a new level. In 1991 Nap met his future wife, Gabrielle at a local pub, the Rose and Crown. Together they have raised two daughters, Chloe and Phaedra. Nap’s forty years of basket making have been inspired and sustained by his love for New England architecture and tradition, though his art form is constantly evolving. Nap is especially well known for his miniature lightship baskets, minuscule weaving, and attention to the most minute detail. When asked about main influences, Nap replies “New England harbors, old New England houses, and wooden boats”.