The query comes up yearly: The place can I discover a particular present that’s significant, helpful, and in contrast to every other? Right here’s your reply. The merchandise you’re about to see beneath come instantly from the arms of 12 artisans that the Sandals Foundation helps all through the Caribbean. These presents are distinctive. They’re created with pure island sources. And everytime you purchase one of these merchandise, you’re empowering the particular person behind it to remodel their group via job coaching, environmental sustainability, and entrepreneurial satisfaction. You’ll even be claiming the best present of the season.
Suzy Eneas, The Bahamas, My Ocean Restricted
Her Merchandise: Handmade soaps, candles, ceramics, jewellery, and ornaments.
Suzy Eneas wakes up each morning in Nassau as if she’s waking up right here for the primary time, awed as soon as once more by the sights, sounds, and smells of the archipelago. It’s why she will be able to’t wait to get into her studio and create one other private escape for somebody who won’t be waking up right here every day.
Picture credit score: My Ocean Restricted
“The range of The Bahamas supplies limitless concepts,” says Suzy, who started crafting presents 20 years in the past. “The whole lot I create is a testomony to the colourful spirit and richness of our 700 islands.”
For instance, Suzy crafts candles that scent distinctly like passionfruit, mango, or sea salt and mint. She and her staff of artisans form and stamp jewellery so each bit is uniquely Bahamian. They curate present packing containers to move anybody who opens the highest to iconic websites like The Blue Hole and the coral reef system, or to the islands of Abaco, Eleuthera, and Inagua. Might there be a higher method to get up?
See extra on-line at myocean.com and on Instagram at myocean_bahamas
Lisette Keus, Curaçao, Lionfish Caribbean
Her Merchandise: Jewellery reworked from the fins, skins, and spines of lionfish.
Earlier than she discovered to be a jewellery maker, Lisette Keus discovered to be a skilled lionfish huntress off the coast of Curaçao. Pushed by a ardour to guard the delicate ocean ecosystem, she would take away the invasive fish one after the other. A query all the time loomed: what else can I do to make each catch depend? In 2016, she determined to make use of two dive tank O-rings and a few lionfish fins to make her first pair of lionfish earrings.
Picture credit score: Lionfish Caribbean
“Our staff has refined the method since these first earrings to make them extra sturdy,” Lisette says. “Step-by-step, we’ve turned an experiment into a significant model.”
The small operation within the nook of a dive store has grown into Lionfish Caribbean, the place Lisette combines her gorgeous wearable artwork with schooling about ocean conservation and sustainable meals. With every buy, she’s additionally in a position to pay a truthful worth to native lionfish hunters to allow them to proceed to manage the inhabitants. Whereas purchases can be found on-line, friends can go to the store and even interact in Lionfish Jewellery Workshops, the place they will make their very personal pair.
“As a result of individuals are shopping for lionfish jewellery, we’re in a position to pay native hunters a truthful worth, making it doable for them to proceed their very important work in controlling the inhabitants. Sandals, their shoppers, and ours all play a direct position within the answer, ” she says, “closing the circle of sustainability and making a actual influence on ocean well being.”
See extra on-line at lionfishcaribbean.com and on Instagram at lionfishcaribbean
(Delivery to the U.S. is offered)
Lacey Ann Bartley, Jamaica Manchester, Bartley’s All In Wooden
Her Household’s Merchandise: Hand-crafted wooden presents, décor, and furnishings designed to have fun Jamaica’s magnificence.
At a younger age, Lacey Ann Bartley would watch her father work with the indigenous wooden discovered across the gulleys and forests of Manchester Parish in Jamaica. She and her brother discovered their father’s precision woodworking abilities and work ethic that’s been evident within the high quality of every product from Bartley’s All in Wooden for greater than 50 years.
Picture credit score: Bartley’s All In Wooden
“The Sandals Basis has been a essential companion to assist us broaden our outreach via tree planting initiatives and to coach craftsmen in at-risk communities,” Lacey Ann says. Her imaginative and prescient now extends far past the household store. “The ripple impact of empowerment impacts not solely our enterprise however the better group.”
See extra on-line at bartleysallinwood.com.jm and on Instagram at bartley_s
(Delivery to the U.S. is offered)
Kristle and Kimberly Jeffers, Barbados, Handmade by Kae
Merchandise: Scented tub, physique, and residential merchandise made with all-Caribbean components.
Kristle and Kimberly Jeffers name their total product line an extension of the way in which they’ve all the time lived, first as children in Trinidad after which into maturity in Barbados. Their household knew the character of the islands would offer the whole lot mandatory for a wholesome life.
“That’s the way in which our total group thrived,” Kristle says.
So, after they needed to search out a method to care for his or her pores and skin, they experimented with aloe, cucumber, coconut milk, and turmeric till they discovered their magical recipes. Each ingredient pays homage to their grandparents’ gardens and the island way of life. Right this moment, they’ve expanded their product line into physique oils, candles, and perfumes. All packaging is plastic-free as a method to thank the surroundings for what it has all the time supplied them.
“People who find themselves launched to our merchandise via Sandals now search us out after being launched to our model on the present outlets,” Kimberly says. “It has helped us to develop and develop as we plan our manufacturing runs round anticipated wants and has given us precious information as we streamlined our product choices.”
See extra on-line at handmadebykae.com and on Instagram at handmadebykae
(Delivery to the U.S. is offered)
Louise Joseph-Ochasi, Antigua and Barbuda, Amya’s Design
Her Merchandise: Luggage, clutches, jewellery, and clothes made with Afrocentric touches and completed with pure accents.
An task throughout highschool modified Louise Joseph-Ochasi’s life: Discover the forests of Antigua, discover indigenous supplies, and make jewellery from them.
“The enjoyment of discovering one thing in nature and remodeling it into wearable artwork was born for me,” Louise says. “I would like that pleasure to be evident in all of my merchandise.”
Her merchandise embody baggage and headwraps, a craft she discovered as a little woman from her mom, who impressed her to begin Amya’s Design. A number of years later, the Sandals Basis started buying her merchandise to be showcased at Sandals’ boutique outlets, the place guests from all over the world can see them. Each clutch, tote, wrap, and piece of jewellery connects again to that task in class. For this reason you discover a artistic use of sea glass, bark, seeds, shells, burlap, and real African cloth.
“My merchandise are my heritage,” Louise says. And it’s protected to say there’s nothing else like them.
See extra on Instagram at amyas.design
Dana Baugh, Jamaica, Westmoreland, BAUGHaus Design Studio
Merchandise: Handcrafted ceramics that mix practical design with inventive island aptitude.
Dana is a born and raised Jamaican ceramicist and founder of BAUGHaus Design Studio. With a ardour for nice, genuine craftsmanship and design, she creates handmade ceramics that mirror her island roots and love for tropical fashionable aesthetics. Via her work, she goals to have fun the wonder of Caribbean tradition and sustainable craftsmanship. What started as a deep love for craftsmanship and a need to make one thing significant advanced into a area the place Dana merges her heritage along with her imaginative and prescient, and each bit she creates displays that journey.
Picture credit score: BAUGHaus Design Studio
“Rising up in Jamaica, I used to be all the time surrounded by the colourful colours, textures, and rhythms of island life,” Dana says. “And I needed to carry that vitality into my work.”
At BAUGHaus Design Studio, each ceramic piece is an ode to the colourful soul of Jamaica—its colours, flavors, and the spirit of togetherness that defines island life. Via each assortment, Dana goals to carry a piece of Jamaica’s heat, hospitality, and artistry into properties all over the world.
Picture credit score: BAUGHaus Design Studio
“The early help from Sandals Resorts helped me achieve the arrogance to take the following steps in turning my ardour into a thriving enterprise,” she says. “Over time, our partnership has flourished, with Sandals shopping for merchandise from me for his or her resorts to collaborating on a selection of initiatives, even creating customized items for particular occasions; Sandals has all the time been there to assist carry my creations to a broader viewers.”
See extra at https://baughausdesign.com/ on Instagram at baughaus
Laura Ward, Barbados, Earth and Fireplace Pottery Studio
Her Merchandise: Christmas ornaments, wind chimes, chattel homes, and Bajan dolls, all hand-crafted from Barbadian clay.
When Laura Ward moved to Barbados from Venezuela in 1991, the island embraced her the way in which it embraces everybody — as if she’d belonged right here without end. She embraced Barbados proper again by studying how one can craft its treasured earth, often called “Barbadian clay,” into Amerindian-style ceramics which have since turn into her signature throughout the island. To this present day, Laura expresses her love for Barbados by depicting its distinctive structure and tradition in each bit, which she impresses, incises, inlays, burnishes, paints, and fires in a kiln.
“My work has been a journey since I encountered this island clay for the primary time,” she says. “All I would like is a vessel and the panorama round me for inspiration.”
See extra on Instagram at earthandfirepotterystudio246
(Delivery to the U.S. is offered)
Nydia Norville, St. Lucia, Choiselle
Merchandise: Botanical hair and physique oils, coconut shell candles and coconut wax candles
When Nydia Norville’s modeling profession took her to New York Metropolis, the frantic tempo of metropolis life took a toll on her pores and skin and spirit. The cures really helpful to her included prolonged lists of chemical substances and synthetics.
“I assumed again to my childhood in St. Lucia, watching my grandmother make coconut oil and hair and skincare concoctions from botanicals harvested from the household backyard. I borrowed those self same ideas to begin Choiselle, utilizing pure components identified to have therapeutic and aromatherapy advantages within the Caribbean.”
“Sandals Resorts has been a key companion in serving to my enterprise develop by supporting me within the improvement phases. They supplied enter and technique to get the merchandise to market,” she says. “Greater than something, I proudly put these merchandise on the market as a result of every one is made with intent and love.”
See extra on-line at choiselle.com and on Instagram at choiselle
(Delivery to the U.S. is offered)
Daisy Casimiri, Curaçao, Zumpiña Store Tradition Consultancy
Her Merchandise: Keepsakes from her personal arms and from artists on the island.
When Daisy Casimiri left her birthplace in Curaçao to attend artwork academy in The Netherlands, the island by no means totally let her go. Daisy returned after commencement to prepare Carib artwork initiatives and to publish magazines and books. “I needed to place our island on the map,” she says. In 2008, she went all-in by opening a gallery within the Rif Fort, which now supplies a central platform for native artists and handcrafters to supply lovely handmade objects for vacationers to take residence as cherished reminiscences.
Daisy additionally spreads her ardour for this beloved island by providing deprived younger individuals an upward trajectory in schooling, work, and objective. With the buying energy of Sandals, every artisan good points confidence. With confidence, the standard elevates.
“The whole lot is made regionally with two key components,” Daisy says. “Time and love.”
See extra on-line at cathedralofthorns.com and on Instagram at cathedral_of_thorns
(Delivery to the U.S. is offered)
Cherise King-Gibson, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Isla Antilles
Merchandise: Scented soy candles, all of them phthalate-free and naturally Caribbean.
When Cherise King-Gibson regarded for a artistic outlet to carry her peace in 2020, she by no means imagined an concept from her sister would persuade her to place a good profession on maintain.
“I didn’t intend to turn into a chandler,” Cherise says of her full-time candle-making enterprise, Isla Antilles, which she’s grown via analysis, networking, trial-and-error, and a ardour she didn’t anticipate.
The candles are totally grounded within the tropical nature of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The Darkish View Falls candle, named after the long-lasting twin waterfalls, is a mix of coconut, inexperienced florals, and touches of wooden. Coral Reef exudes hints of citrus and sage. Each ingredient comes from the islands and each step is completed by Cherise and her sister.
“And now our partnership with Sandals permits us to succeed in a broader viewers,” Cherise says. “It means we will unfold extra mild and extra pleasure to the world.”
See extra on Instagram at islaantilles
Emiliano Cuselli, Barbados, Tropical Artwork Glasses Barbados
His Merchandise: Glassware for properties and nice eating places, lampshades, stained glass, and ornaments.
It’s not a mirage once you lay your eyes on Emiliano Cuselli’s beautiful glass serving trays and bowls. You actually can see the Caribbean within the hues and stylish shapes of each piece. Pull out one of his platters and also you sense the stress-free temper of the islands, too.
Picture credit score: Tropical Artwork Glasses Barbados
“This has all the time been my imaginative and prescient,” Emiliano says, “to mirror the wonder of this area in glass.” For the previous 30 years, Emiliano’s one-of-a-kind glassware has turn into identified all around the island merely as “Barbados glass.” Meals and dishwasher protected, it’s present in eating places, properties, and at Sandals. When Emiliano thinks again to how this began and to the very fact his glassware is now synonymous with Barbados, he’s humbled to 4 brief phrases: “This says all of it.”
See extra on Instagram at tropical.art.glasses
(Delivery to the U.S. is offered)
Maraika Theresa Younger, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Tide Sand & Hand
Her Merchandise: Handmade indigenous crafts embody natural coconut bowls and driftwood stone artwork.
The date is without end etched in Maraika Theresa Younger’s reminiscence: March 20, 2019. On that day, King Charles III (then the Prince of Wales) made his Royal go to to the Caribbean. Whereas on St. Vincent, he obtained a lovely stone-art piece made with natural supplies. The artwork match for the King was created by Maraika.
“That sort of appreciation builds satisfaction,” she says.
It’s arduous to consider Maraika began creating arts and crafts solely a 12 months earlier than the King’s arrival. She and her youngsters would search the seashores for stones, sea glass, shells, and driftwood. Maraika turned them into treasures, gifting them to family and friends, who satisfied her to open a enterprise. Since then, and with the assistance of the Sandals Basis, she’s expanded her line into extra markets whereas additionally providing different artisans from St. Vincent the chance to promote their merchandise in her retailer.
“When individuals see these items,” Maraika says, “I would like them to see that our means of life is vibrant, spirited, and priceless.”
See extra on-line on Instagram at tidesandhand
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