Lack of motivation weaving its way into straw craft
Published:Tuesday | August 3, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Craftswoman Charline Graham, who has remained committed to her straw-craft business for the past seven years, believes she is one of just a few who still treat it as a viable career option despite the challenges.
Graham, struggling with market challenges, operates out of Prospect, St Elizabeth, where she and Ludian Hill make a living together out of straw crafts-manship. They also hire as many of their fellow community members as they can to weave for them on a part-time basis.
"Prospect is a straw community," Graham said.
However, as she dealt with a customer in the St Elizabeth parish area at the Denbigh Agri-Industrial Show, she noted that business at the event was slower than she had expected, despite having a variety of goods on sale.
"(Business) has been slow but we can't really complain. We are here (at Denbigh) and that's something," she said.
Slow business at Denbigh might have caught Graham off guard, but she is used to not getting as many customers as she once did. She said that the straw-craft sector does not get as much exposure as it should, and so not many persons know of it or are attracted to it.
Efforts increased and temperatures rose as Hill, 72, tried to attract patrons in the parish booth, working hard at making a sale.
Veteran craftsman
Hill, a veteran who has been in the field for more than 60 years, trained Graham. The apprentice then put her fingers to the test, weaving hats, baskets, cassava bags and sieves.
On a hot Sunday at Denbigh, the duo was selling straw hats at prices anywhere between $600 and $1,500.
Having had years of experience creating and selling straw goods, Hill said he had seen dwindling interest in the field as a career option, as well as a reduction in the number of craftsmen and women.
"There is a lack of motivation. Young people need quick money," he added, saying that the painstaking straw-craft business doesn't bring in income fast enough to satisfy the youth, and is dominated by the elderly.