Many up and coming entrepreneurs were set up at the Bahamas National Trust this weekend for their 2002 Christmas Jollification, featuring aspiring businesses from all over the country, including Eleuthera, Long Island, Harbour Island, Cat Island and Exuma.
With a little island flavour, exhibits like Wild Tamarind Pottery and Ex-STRAW-dinary Creations showcased Bahamians artists who had used their imaginations to create their unique products and thus, sparking the imaginations of others.
One of those artists, Michelle Liu and Latasha Christie told The Guardian about their own unique creation formed into their business called MT Pottery.
The duo, both of whom are also Marine Biologist, began with simple pottery, forming round vases and lanterns. From there, they arrived at the idea of shaping out sea animals in the ceramics and then painted them. Soon, Liu and Christie began placing candles inside of the ceramics.
The project, Liu said, gradually became bigger and bigger with fruit shapes carved out of vases and mini-fruit pieces like pears, grapes, apples and mangos with scented candles in them.
“We began with a lot of sea animals themes, because of our love for marine life, but then we realize not everyone like sea animals, so we began to think out of the box and began making little fruit candles,” said Liu.
Liu and Christie have been exhibiting at the Christmas Jollification for the past three years. Liu labeled this year’s exhibition the biggest ever, based on the attendance and how the crowd responded to the booth.
“Everything has been going along very well. This is the only show we participate in all year, seeing that we do this business from our homes and in our spare time,” she said.
This year, however, the two women did something a little different. Besides their much bigger pieces, they also introduced their clock collection, also ceramic.
“We have received a lot of demands, so we don’t have a lot of time to continue this hobby and our own jobs, but we do our best,” said Liu.
Although they can be reached at home, Liu and Christie’s affordable pieces can also be bought at a few ceramics stores in the Atlantis hotel.
The Christmas Jollification also featured stained glass artist Rome Heyer from Green Treasure Cay, Exuma.
Her handcrafted jewelry boxes, lamps, wind chimes and jewelry stood out from the surrounding booths, showcasing all original work.
“It hard to just concentrate on just one project. I often work on several things at one time,” said Mrs. Heyer, in addition to the displayed pieces, also create stain glass windows for churches.
The Christmas Jollification featured many more Bahamian artists and bakers, who showcased their Bahamian delights like beanie cake, peanut cake, homemade candy and chocolates.
Even Christmas ornaments were on sale. At Dornell’s Treasures, her hand-painted sand dollar ornaments was different from the apples, angels, Santa Clauses and other typical ornaments Bahamians decorate their trees with.
“My exhibit is a reflection of the sea,” said owner Veronica Rahming.
Truly, her exhibit was exactly that. With sand-filled candles and hand-painted plate mats, the booth featured Christmas wreaths and other artworks created mainly from sea shells, starfishes and sand.
Another unique item that should be on one’s Christmas list this year were Island Gals’ beaded watches.
Although the booth featured other beaded jewelry, it was the watches that got the crowd’s attention.
Instead of the traditional leather or copper band, Island Gals took the idea of beads and ran away with it. Tiny strings and tiny colourful beads of pink, baby blue, orange and beige take its place.
The perfect Christmas gift for children was right next to the Island Gals booth.
Life-size fairy tale characters dolls. Ever wondered what the evil witch looked like from the Wizard of Oz, or how beautiful Sleeping Beauty was. Well, your children may have wondered.
The dolls, as live as their description in those timeless novels, stand at about one to two feet tall.
For those interested in toiletries, D’Lovely Soaps homemade soaps were well received from the crowd.
With fragrances of tangerine, sweet and spicy, watermelon, lavender, coconut, lemon tea and blueberry; the soaps were shaped like a rolled-up piece of paper. Each piece would have to be unrolled and separated by hand.
For those with a green thumb, several booths featured poinsettia plants and others that bloom during the winter season.
The Christmas Jollification even had a special section where youngsters could create their own Christmas ornament to hang on their Christmas trees at home.
All in all, the Christmas jollification proved to be a success, as most businesses there should have boosted their clientele.
By Khashan Poitier, The Nassau Guardian
