Jadire fabric graduates hosting expose at UWI Regional Headquarters

UNDER THE tutelage of Alao Luqman, a multitalented Nigerian cultural diplomat/volunteer working in Jamaica for the past five years in a variety of artistic endeavours, many individuals and groups have been trained. One of the areas in which training is offered and provided is the production of batik fabrics.

The objective is to revive the tie-and-dye/batik cottage industry in Jamaica, and from the look of things, the revival has started, with a twist, of course. There is a name for the fabrics produced this time around to identify it as Jamaican batik fabric.

Jadire, known as Jamaican adire, was derived from combining the J from Jamaica with the Yoruba word adire, meaning ‘tie-and-dye textile’. It is an indigo-dyed cloth made mainly in southwest Nigeria by Yoruban women using a variety of resist-dyeing techniques. In Africa, cloths represent cultural identity and they are viewed as the products of technology, cultural symbolism, works of art, or as items of trade. The Jadire fabrics then will represent the said factors.

And from Wednesday, November 17 to Saturday, December 2, four of the former trainees (Jacquline Mason Reid, Nella Stewart, Simone Gordon and Charmaine Brown), who have developed a Jadire-production business from their training are hosting an expose of batik fabrics and many items made from such.

But, it is also a commercials venture as the fabrics and the items are for sale. The event was officially opened by Valerie Veira, chief executive officer of the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC), which is hosting Alao Luqman and providing workshop and production facilities.

With over 30 years of experience at the management level, Nella Stewart retired from heading The University of West Indies Project Management Office in 2019, when she ventured into textile design (tie-and-dye/batik and printing) under the tutelage of Alao Luqman and became one of the leading textile designers in the up-and-running Jadire cottage industry.

“It’s a privilege to participate in an exhibition like this, simply because of the skills I have learned … It’s a very rewarding experience, and the building of my skills is the culmination of this exhibition, and I think this an eye-opener for me and other exhibitors, because it shows us that we can go further,” Stewart, the owner of Ray AuClaire Batik, told The Gleaner.

Well known in Jamaica’s clothing and fashion community for her colourful and unusual pieces of clothes, Simone Natashi Gordon, popularly known as ‘Tasha’, is a self-taught designer from a generation of designers including her mother, grandfather and grandmother; designing runs deep into her veins. Her designs are not limited to clothing as she is a prolific producer of a variety of fashion jewellery, handbags, purses, scarves, pillows, cushions, et cetera.

Fabric is Gordon’s life, and now that she can make her own fabrics, her life seems to be complete. She said to The Gleaner, “The most important thing about me doing this, making my own fabrics, it gives me an opportunity to let my design stand out. It’s more personal. I can take a plain white fabric and change it into anything I want. No two (pieces) are the same. You get a complete design from the fabric right down to the completion of the garment.”And about the show itself? “I feel like I gave birth to something. I’ve been pregnant with this for years, so I finally gave birth,” the T&T fashion maven revealed.

Also bitten by the fashion and clothing bug is Charmaine Brown, the founder and managing director of Jessica’s Fashions, which was established in 2005. The innovator of garment construction design specialises in children and women’s fashion and supplies a wide range of garment styles. She also supplies garments to the tourism sector through Things Jamaica at Jamaica’s international airports, and offers embroidered designs for her productions.

The entrepreneur, who pursued her advanced training at Garmex HEART Academy in Kingston, doubtfully started the Jadire workshop, and as they say, the rest is history. “The Jadire Expose held on November 21started out for me very tentatively … Yet as the evening progressed, the presenters and invited participants, purchasers and viewers overwhelmed me by their contributions made ... The evening turned out to be rewarding in knowledge, expertise and advice given,” she shared.

Jacquline Mason Reid is a licensed customs broker, who is the managing director at Jamreid Logistics, and has been working in the industry for over 30 years. She is a member of the Customs Brokers & Freight Forwarding Association, who has a passion for textiles and African fashion. That passion was intensified by her participation in the Jadire workshop at JBDC, and her zeal for the revival of the textile cottage industry has also grown stronger.

It was during the COVID-19 pandemic when Mason Reid was searching the Internet for something to occupy her time that she saw information about JBDC’s tie-and-dye batik workshops. She eventually signed up, completed the workshop, and started to create her own fabrics.

About Tuesday evening she said, “It was somewhat long overdue. I am happy for the exposure. The expose allows me the opportunity to understand what fabric persons have interest in buying. I feel so good and have been praying for its success. Thanks to Alao for sharing his knowledge.”

Alao Luqman; Colin Porter, manager of technical services at JBDC; Harold Davis, deputy CEO at JBDC; and Valerie Veira, CEO at JBDC were also in the house, and addressed the gathering.