 The community of Shwazel and its surrounding areas on the southwest coast of Sendusha were home to the few caribs who stayed behind in the late 1600s when the tribes moved on to other Caribbean islands. The caribs acquired their food many through farming, fishing, and their bow and arrow method of hunting. Their diet consisted largely of cassava, sweet potato, maize, and yam. As is very much the same today, women were responsible for housekeeping. Carib women were excellent users of local raw materials, producing all sorts of functional items for domestic use. The caribs have all but disappeared with only a few people from the Lapointe community able to claim this distinct heritage from an ancient race. There are no great monuments they pass in except for a few petroglyphs, some rock basins, and fragmented bits of pottery. Yet a part of their lifestyle lives on through the craft tradition which has been kept for centuries by generations of St. Lucians. The women of Montseor and Lapointe in Chauzele are known all over Sendusha for their work in pottery. The tradition is passed on from generation to generation and the production of one type of clay pot over another is determined by the market. Although the techniques go back to the Amerindians, some of the final pieces are of African design, for example, the coal pot. The Amerindians had something called a platine, a flat plate, because they made cassava and then they didn't use what you call a tesso. The tesso is definitely African design. The pottery has been two things, one a domestic craft and the other one is a commercial craft. Pottery has also been ornamental. Out of all that pottery has been, it was the establishment of the tourist industry in the 1960s which marked a significant difference in the way it was being marketed. A big change came in when the tourists started off in the late 1950s, 60s when the tourists came. And then we started making first of all the ash trays and then bigger flower pots because the hotels wanted it for the patios. So the development of the tourist industry in St. Lucia meant a new market for craft products. It also meant the use of creative skills that could bring out the best of St Lucia's pottery tradition. The making of figurines came in later when people wanted to trade for the tourists who come and buy you the market. They didn't want to take a big tesso or big canary, they'd take a little figurine. So the tesso became reduced even further than what we used to have, the girls used to have a little tesso on board that thing, for dollhouse. And then it became even smaller where it could double up as an ashtray. So the tesso was reduced in size. And even with all of that accommodation for the tourists, St Lucia's have always been the biggest patronizers of local craft. Although pottery has been the main source of income for most of these women, they barely make enough to meet subsistence needs. Perhaps it is because pottery is more of an art than a business. Or maybe because there is no price tag on the raw material used. The price of a coal pot varies from 10 to 15 Eastern Caribbean dollars depending on its size. The price of a cooking pot does not significantly differ from that of a flower pot. But the price of making a clay pot is worth much more than the value placed on it at the market. The price of a clay pot is worth much more than the value placed on it at the market. The price of a clay pot is worth much more than the value placed on it at the market. The price of a clay pot is worth much more than the value placed on it at the market. The price of a clay pot is worth much more than the value placed on it at the market. The price of a clay pot is worth much more than the value placed on it at the market. The price of a clay pot is worth much more than the value placed on it at the market. The price of a clay pot is worth much more than the value placed on it at the market. The price of a clay pot is worth much more than the value placed on it at the market. The price of a clay pot is worth much more than the value placed on it at the market. The price of a clay pot is worth much more than the value placed on it at the market. Of the many domestic utensils designed by the Amerindians, only the cooking pot, or the Kanawi, is still produced in abundance. Other utensils like the tea platter, the tewin, and the jay have long been replaced by modern-day kitchenware. The era of cooking gas, electrical stoves, and microwaves have also had its effects on the demand for coal pots. But they are still produced in large numbers, and in the 90s were still the biggest sellers to the local market. The porters of Choselle have been able to design a coal pot of any size as requested by customers. They are the masters of the tradition, the keepers of an indigenous art so sacred, so honorable. But there is another kind of pottery which is produced in St. Lucia. I've been doing, working as a pottery in St. Lucia for the past six years. I'm actually working on my own, have my own studio and kiln and facilities equipment. People in Choselle, they've been doing pottery for centuries, and they don't use any modern equipment because the skill they have is slightly different to what I have, because I have more technology and equipment. I use different materials. Augustus Simon's Art Studio is based in the city of Castries and occasionally accommodates young prospective porters, particularly secondary school students. Aided by a porters' wheel, a mould and other modern technology, he is able to produce clay pottery with ease and with a glazed finish. It's definitely the market. You can also export your work, which I'm doing presently. I'm exporting to Antigua and Cape Shepherd in Barbados, and also on Guard Loop. I have a contact in Guard Loop. I'm exporting to these places as well. And I generate supplies, I would say 95% hotels on the island. You don't have to make own imports. You can make roof tiles, that is clay tiles. You can make ash trees and other items that are for hotels and restaurants. One can make a living and live comfortably at a pottery. I would always advise if any young man come around and they're serious, I'm always willing to help them. I would like to see more young people getting involved in pottery as a serious profession. In today's world, where technology is synonymous with efficiency, Augusta Simon has taken a step in the right direction. With the present generation sufficiently convinced that they can produce volumes using little manual labour, very soon there will be many more studios like Augusta Simon's. Choiselle is a district made up of over 15 communities. Many of the plants, some of them endemic, which have been going wild for years, are the main resource for the production of another kind of craft in which St. Lucia abounds. I'm working on a table mat and using both the cuscus and the scrupine material. With the scrupine you can create two different patterns. Tube coil pattern and the interwoven pattern. We call this the tube coil pattern because we use the cuscus grass and the scrupine together. So the cuscus, I use it in the centre and I wrap the scrupine around it so that the table mat or the basket could have enough strength to support itself. I'm working on a table mat. We use the cuscus grass and the scrupine material to make the table mat stop. If it's one, we can make it one. But if it's not one, it's not one. Maybe if it's five or six, we can make it five or six. We can make it five or six. We can make it five or six. We can make it five or six. We can start by one, we can start by all. We think about it a lot. It's three. We can make it five or six. We make it seven. And then we can make it seven. People of Choselle do different crafts and each community do something different. different. For example, we have the people of Debrel, they work with the scrupine that we normally call the palama, and with these they make bags, hats, caps, wall plaques and many others. They are very talented in that line. And when you move, let's say you go to cafe, you find that there the people use the vautiver, the couscous grass, and with that they make the mats, dough mats, nice large ones for the drawing rooms and dining rooms. They make bags and a variety of other little items, smaller ones. And then we move to Lafag where they use the same straw, but they use some couscous grass with it. And then they make what we call the Pianti too. They make table mats as well, place mats. Now I see they put lovely flowers on them. Then we move on to Bellevue. There they make laundry baskets, baby baskets, lunch baskets, and they use what we call the lien and the awali and some people call it the mibi as well. They go way over to the rainforest to get these. Sometimes they remain there whole week and they come down with the material. The people at Morgulge of that side they use the throsh, something they call it Jean in Batua, to make chairs. Chairs that are strong, useful, and to many solutions much more affordable. Today they are mostly used in rural homes, a few still furnished small shops, restaurants, and offices. They come in all sizes and designs. They can withstand any weather condition and they are very portable. The frame of the straw chair is made out of white cedar or poye, and Jean, an endemic plant, is used to design the seat. It's one of these plants that have been over exploited and the habitats have been destroyed, so now that's a threatened species. So now the people cannot get enough Jean now, so they have to substitute and make what we call chaiseaux with either Voltaver or Panama now. The Voltaver or Cuscus grass and the Palama or Scrupine are the two plants most widely used in the straw industry. They grow in abundance all over St. Lucia. Their leaves are strong and soft and can easily be shaped into any pattern. These plants were introduced to St. Lucia a few hundred years ago, and the people of Choiselle have used them extensively to create all sorts of useful items. I started learning from the age of 15 years. I watched my mother to do it, and then I took some straw to see what I could create. Although it is the only source of income for many, some other women in Choiselle design and produce craft items during leisure time, primarily to provide additional economic support for their families. Mary says it helps, but it is not a get-rich-quick profession. Straw work is profitable with dedication and a reliable market. In 1971, the government of St. Lucia established an art and craft center in the community of La Fague in Choiselle. This center provides a secured outlet for some 150 craft workers in the Choiselle area. It is operated by government with international voluntary assistance and has been closed on two occasions due to poor management. Not daunted by the uncertainties of this institutional support, the many craft workers of Choiselle continue to produce their varieties of straw baskets, dormarts, coasters and clay pots. They are always active, always doing something, cutting the straw, trying it, bleaching, they always at it. And they are very industrious people, you know. It's a pity we don't have enough market to market all the craft that they can produce. Although we have the craft center in Choiselle and most of the craft from Choiselle goes to the castries market. The central market in capital city castries is the single largest outlet for local craft at prices which are affordable to most St Lucians. But it is usually the larger producers of craft, particularly clay potters who benefit most from their trade. Thanks to the flexibility of the Choiselle plant, the craft workers have become more adaptive to the demands of the consumer. The Choiselle allows for more innovation in the design of craft items. The Choiselle fiber must be properly dried to avoid mildew. Drying takes as little as 15 minutes or as long as three days, depending on the weather. When dried, the fibers worked with a needle into a variety of functional items, including handbags, hats, coasters and table mats. The Choiselle craft is mostly concentrated in the community of Lirish in Choiselle. I'm a craftswoman. I'm doing different types of handicrafts, macrame, batik, tie and dye, cloche, knitting, ragdolls. But what is it about Choiselle that makes it so popular for handicraft? Is it that the raw materials are unavailable elsewhere? I don't want to say so because the same plants grow all over the island. You have the panache growing everywhere, the purple and purple in Choiselle have planted it. You have the vaultiver growing everywhere. The rainforest is close to Souffre and to Ansleray as it is to Choiselle. Yes, but it is in Choiselle that the craft technology exists. It is there that the last of the Amerindians lived, and it is there that traditional handicraft was handed down to their descendants. Among the many other plants used in straw work are Tikanot, Godmore, Babu and Latani, and it is not always the leaves of the plant which is used. In basketry, you sometimes use the roots. Sometimes you use the vine, the very body of the plant, the vine itself. Sometimes you use the body like in bamboo. You use the whole plant more or less, you know, the real solid part. The bamboo sticks are stripped and used mainly for the ribs of the large open baskets used for transporting delicate produce like avocados. The root of the Godmore and the vine called Pomdilien are also used in the construction of this basket. The local brooms which are still used in almost every St. Lucian home come in three sizes. Those used for dusting, those for sweeping, and those for overhead cleaning. Broom making is one of the few traditional crafts in which people all over St. Lucia are engaged, but it is mostly concentrated in Olio in the village of Dennery. Two types of plants are normally used in traditional broom making. The boar madame is one of the many plants used to form the broomstick and the latinier or the fun palm is an endemic plant used to form the brush. At a threatened specie because we have overexploited it, we have our forefathers have used it quite a lot, we have never studied the agronomy, we have never replanted it. All we have done is take off, take rip off from the wild. So now you have a bigger population, there's a greater demand for brooms and we go back to the same plants more often and that's one of the reasons why I believe in my mind that the brooms are inferior today. And what of the future of the craft workers, the bearers of this ancient art and traditional technology?