Nelsion Nurse, who was adjudged the Designer of the Year in the Mashramani 2023 competitions, in an interview with the Stabroek News proclaimed his happiness at the competition’s outcome. Nurse added that even though he had previously won “Designer of the Year” he is very elated and proud to be this year’s winner again.
He said though he worked very hard, and was not looking forward for anything much, he was nevertheless excited when the results was announced. Nurse confessed that he did keep a daily check on the Ministry of Culture’s Facebook page for the results.
Giving a background into the events and efforts behind his works, Nurse said that he had a team of 27 all of whom worked tirelessly 24 hours every day from 6th February to 22nd. The roles of his team mates were not specified but all worked together to get the work done up to standard. He added that this year’s team was smaller than the team he would usually have, and mentioned that for last Mashramani, he had a team of 75 persons. This year, Nurse said, he chose a smaller team and was able to get his assigned tasks for all of the bands he was assigned to design for completed in a timely manner.
Nurse said the materials used were spandex, feathers, stones, spandex cloth and much more. The most expensive material used was the feathers, “it was a challenge for us … I had to travel to Trinidad to get them and also accommodations for the time being spent there.” A lot of investments was made since most of the materials needed was not available in Guyana. It was quite a challenge since Nurse wanted to be different from the other designers, so traveling to Trinidad to obtain some of the materials presented an additional expense.
Nurse said he worked hard to make all the revelers look exceptional. Even though some persons complained about the “bag-pack”, he came up with a substitute idea which made them comfortable, unique and exceptional from the other revelers of each band. When choosing different designs for each float he said he made the process very simple. “I just went with the theme for each band, what the focus was and pulled a concept together and came up with a design which will not be identical to any other float since the themes were all different.” He also added that the Ministry of Natural Resources focused mainly on oil so it was not quite a challenge to obtain different styles and patterns for that float from any other Mash band.
Nurse said that being the Designer of the Year definitely gives him an edge. He hopes that it does some good and intends to use it as a platform this year to push for some new agendas especially when it comes to the competition. He added that there are some policies and rules that he would like to see changed for next year’s competition, and hopes to see some benefit coming his way from the title. His advice to other designer is, “do what you love, love what you do and always deliver more than you promised.”
