– mulls $10M workshop, showroom here
The Williams Legacy is the story a Guyanese craft enterprise that has made waves in Barbados and now seeks to put down roots in the country where the tradition was born.
Cedric and Amander Clarke’s booth at this year’s GuyExpo attracted attention on account of the quaintness of what it offered; coarse pieces of sturdy tree trunk, the roughness of which had been tamed by intricate craftsmanship. Dead objects had life breathed into them and the end products, an attractive collection of creatively carved ornaments including stunningly attractive jewel boxes stood out at Sophia over last weekend.
Amander Clarke-Williams is one half of the current dispensation of the Williams legacy, the other half being her husband Cedric. Both are Guyanese, both learnt their trade in Barbados and both now reside at Walkers Valley in Barbados except for those periods when they return to Guyana and to the Williams family home in Tucville.
The name Williams Legacy symbolizes Amander’s inheritance; two generations of craftspeople that began with her grandparents, Mr & Mrs Nathaniel Williams. They passed the skill on to her father, Kenrick, who kept it alive with the support and encouragement of his spouse Patricia Yarde-Williams.
In 1979, Kenrick and Patricia travelled to Barbados at the invitation of the Barbados Investment & Development Corporation (BIDC) to attend a tourism fair there. The visit to Barbados afforded them the opportunity to expose Guyanese craft to another Caricom country. Barbadians who saw the pieces which the Williamses displayed recognized an opportunity to boost their own craft industry and by extension, their tourism industry. The Williamses became so engaged with the Barbadian craft industry that by 1983 they took a decision to settle there and to establish a business of their own. At the time Amander was five years old.
They became even more involved in the craft trade on the island. Amander, meanwhile, spent 13 unbroken years away from the land of her birth. Her own substantive career as a craftswoman began at age 15 when she decided to sustain the ‘Williams Legacy’. She began familiarizing herself with the trade, frequenting her father’s workshop and learning the demanding art of carving. Having become proficient in the craft she established her own workshop.
Cedric, Amander’s spouse, is also Guyanese. He, too, has a background in craft having worked as an apprentice to a Mr Stanley Newton in Tucville before moving to Barbados, marrying Amander and laying the foundation for the consolidation of the Williams Legacy.
Over time, the Clarkes have learnt to marry the creation of life from nature with the preservation of the environment. They utilize pieces of greenheart, purpleheart, mahogany and cedar which they export from Guyana combined with other species culled from dead trees in Barbados. Cedric says that in the near future the couple will be coming to Guyana to help rid the landscape of fallen, rotting trees.
Each intricately designed piece possesses a quaint uniqueness, as though each of them belong on their own antique mantelpiece. They are styled in the fashion of drawers and can be used as holders for herbs, spices, jewellery, pills and other assorted accoutrements. Some of them possess up to 20 compartments and there are instances in which the intricateness of the design is stunning.
Williams Legacy is a family business in the literal sense of the word. Apart from Cedric and Amander, their two sons have already embraced the mantle of craftsmanship. Recently, their 14 year-old showcased his own work at one of Barbados’s premier exhibitions hosted by the Barbados Manufacturing Exhibition (BMEX). “Our boys are also into music and we’re encouraging them to create their own business portfolios. The legacy can be passed on through any medium and I’m really excited…,” Amander says. “I’m looking forward to them not just taking our talent to a new level but maintaining the high quality and bettering it.”
Last weekend the Clarkes appeared at home at the Sophia Exhibition Centre displaying their skillfully designed handiwork, presenting another side to the variety of talents that have been spawned by the Guyanese creative culture. They may reside in Barbados but their work and their heritage make them no less Guyanese than the various other home-grown exhibitors who showed up at GuyExpo over the weekend.
Amander now travels to Guyana regularly and her real desire is to establish a workshop and showroom in Guyana. The Clarkes anticipate that this is likely to be a $10 million venture.
Over time the Clarkes have established an outlet for their craft locally through the Craft Plus outlet at the Hibiscus Plaza outside the Guyana Post Office Corporation.
Cedric also runs a separate business manufacturing granite countertops. They insist that the key to their advancement has been the mutual support they have provided for each other.
