Joshua Higgins | Need for a revolution to transform Jamaica’s craft sector

Jamaica’s local craft industry has long been mired in a poverty of ideas and declining economic returns. The simple fact is that the model that has relied on handmade crafts of varying sizes and quality has expired, and it is only a matter of time before the next round of protests by craft vendors makes the news.

Clearly, there is now a need to introduce technology, including computer-generated design to both improve the quality and increase the scale of output in order to modernise this industry and improve the economic future of craft creators.

PREHISTORIC

Very few tourists are going to lug some huge, heavy piece of Guango wood carving back home, and selling a tee-shirt is the very base in tourist merchandising. If products were miniaturised and mass produced, which can only come from utilising artificial intelligence (AI), they can be churned out cheaply, uniformly, and with less individual effort.

Here is an opportunity for enterprising graphic artists to partner with craft persons to create production facilities to make these items. One of the criticisms of the tourism industry is that there is not enough retained earnings locally. However, even with the average spend per tourist increasing according to tourism minister Edmund Bartlett from US$168 to US$182 between 2020 to 2022, it could be much higher if they were persuaded to buy more craft from local producers.

LOCAL IDEAS USING AI

The irony is that the smaller replica products that are sold in some of the gift shops in resort towns featuring Jamaican and Rasta colours and themes are Made in China. It would be much better if they were made here and the regular craft market vendors sold them. They could be sold by professional salespersons in dedicated sales venues, while the craft persons who make the craft could just own the rights while focusing on generating creative ideas.

Products defined by creators and graphic artists with output generated by computerised numerical control, laser, and 3D technologies can create sustainable efficiencies and economies of scale, using less local lumber, for example, to make more products. This would create an opportunity for government and financial institutions, which have never sought to facilitate the creative class in Jamaica, to get on board.

Yet another opportunity is for creative people to research the depth of Jamaican culture to create a wider and more imaginative range of products, including religion, athletics, historical Jamaican music and dance, and hero stories, to develop new marketable products for Jamaicans and visitors. Connected cultural policies are required to support effective collaboration between the culture and tourism ministries.

ITALIAN EXPERIENCE

Italian artisans who preside over a multibillion euro industry have understood this and have turned to a process called artisanal intelligence, which combines AI and traditional craft. While the discussion around the use of AI in design often revolves around automating the process, or making it more efficient, the Italians, renowned craft persons, have used these tools to augment the creative process.

TIME FOR MODERNISATION

There is a long history of tension between craft and design dating back to the industrialisation of production with grand statements by William Morris and the biased opinions of crafts people, designers, and ‘art critics’ ever since. No doubt attempting such a craft revolution in Jamaica would generate some pushback from traditional players, but it seems to me to offer a path towards creating a sustainable industry that can generate significant wealth for individuals and the nation.

Local craft needs first-class areas where creative goods can be attractively displayed in gallery settings where local and world shoppers feel comfortable. These areas should be beautifully designed, with elegant corridors, equipped with decent restrooms, air conditioning, and piped in local music. Products could include spices, rums, books, and local reproductions of Jamaican visual arts. The current situation where vendor’s wares are arrayed in dingy shacks by the roadside, while they aggressively fight to grab a sale, is unappealing, outdated, and going nowhere.

The current craft markets are an economic illusion for the creators of craft. It should not be beyond the Government’s imagination to subsidise these centres for a nominal fee. Such spaces should be staffed by trained salespersons and equipped to handle credit/debit card transactions. Such a model will generate profits that can lift the sector and create a truly inclusive tourism industry that locals can feel a part of since they will benefit directly. With that kind of buy-in, it would be a short time before tourists and locals alike can feel comfortable to safely wander the byways of our beautiful island and experience the real Jamaican hospitality. Now is the time.

Tourism is attracting big investments from local and overseas investors, and the industry is projected to earn some US$4.5 billion or J$696 trillion in revenues for 2023, a big increase over the US$3.64 billion earned in 2019, the year before the onset of the COVID-9 pandemic, according to industry figures quoted by Bartlett recently in media reports. This is great news! Think of how much better this earning could be if the craft producers were generating a larger slice. It is time for some out-of-the-box thinking.

- Joshua Higgins is a practising visual multimedia artist. Send feedback to joshstudiovisual@gmail.com.