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Gift shop · Treasure Beach Women's Group

TBWG Craft Shop

Handmade by the women and craftspeople of Treasure Beach: Starlight lanterns, calabash art, woven straw, clay, carved wood and sewn goods. The shop is run by the Treasure Beach Women's Group to turn local talent into income for women.

What's in the shop Visit and contact

Shelves in the shop against a yellow wall: earrings and necklaces on cards, calabash bowls and cups, woven purses and baskets, paintings and prints, and bottles of natural sprays and oils

Local talent, turned into income for women

The craft shop began as a way to turn local talent into income for women. At first the arrangement was simple: the artisan kept 70% of the price, and 30% went to the group to cover the shop's costs.

Over the years, with grants and donations behind it, the shop changed. Today the group buys crafts outright from the people who make them, so they are paid straight away and the shop runs more smoothly.

For a visitor, that means what you buy here helps women in Treasure Beach earn their own money, gain confidence and be seen for their work, and it was made by someone in the community.

Run by
The Treasure Beach Women's Group, since 2000
Find it
Calabash Bay, Treasure Beach

What you will find

  • Two rows of Starlight lanterns, blue domes painted with Jamaican village houses, palm trees and sea creatures, with star and heart cut-outs, on a colourful tie-dyed cloth
    Starlights and calabash art The group's own Starlight lanterns, dome-shaped globes of calabash or clay painted in bright colours and cut out so a candle shows scenes of village life, and the Cala-basket, which joins basket weaving to calabash art.
  • Handmade pottery on a white shelf and a bright cloth: brown and grey mugs and small vases, candle holders, round plates with moulded faces, and a pink glazed face
    Clay and pottery Hand-moulded Starlight bases, and mugs, bowls, mortars and pestles and ashtrays by a Jamaican potter, chosen to suit the shop's handmade look.
  • Woven straw goods in the shop: round cross-body bags, baskets with handles, lidded baskets, flat mats and trays on a wooden shelf, straw hats on the wall, and a table of baskets and table mats
    Straw work Market, bread, picnic and lidded baskets, handbags, clutches and lunch totes, table mats and coasters, cushion covers and decorative bowls, woven from dried palm, banana bark and other local fibres.
  • Five hand-carved wooden forks and spoons in dark and light wood on an orange and teal tie-dyed cloth
    Carved wood Forks and spoons, serving bowls, salad servers and cutting boards, hand-carved from lignum vitae, Jamaica's national tree. No two pieces are alike.
  • Folded tie-dye and printed cloths in red, teal, pink and orange on a table, with small spray bottles and a woven basket
    Sewn and dyed fabric Handmade dresses for adults and children, cushion covers and aprons, fabric handbags and sewn accessories, and tie-dye shirts, scarves and bandanas made in the group's training sessions.

The Starlight

The Starlight is the group's own creation and its best-known piece. A local potter moulds each dome-shaped base from clay by hand. Once it is cured, members of the group paint, carve and decorate it into a bright lantern. Light a candle inside and the cut-outs glow, showing scenes from Jamaican village life.

Starlights, made from calabash or clay and painted in vibrant Caribbean colours, became favourite souvenirs across Treasure Beach, Negril, Montego Bay and Mandeville. The Cala-basket is a close cousin: a basket woven by the St. Helena's Women's Group and joined to calabash art.

Inside the shop

The straw corner of the shop: woven baskets and round bags on a wooden shelf, straw hats on a wall painted with a grey tree and flowers, an oval mirror, and tie-dye cloths hung on bamboo poles
The main room of the shop: white shelves of sprays, oils, pottery, jewellery, paintings and woven bags, a postcard stand, straw hats on the painted wall, and a framed painting above
A carved wooden head with long locks and a beard, beside a necklace with a painted wooden parrot on a linen stand, and a cloth doll on the shelf below
A child's sleeveless dress in a blue print of dolphins and fish, hung against a turquoise wall
Shoulder bags sewn from patches of teal and brown suede, hanging on a slatted wall

The story of the group and its shop

  1. 2000 The Treasure Beach Women's Group (TBWG) is founded in September under the Bureau of Women's Affairs, with support from U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer Ann Wilson. Its aim is to advance women and lift the whole community through education, income-generating projects, and awareness of women's health and social issues. Members first meet wherever there is room: under trees, in churches, and at a Food For The Poor house near a pond.
  2. The calabash Ann Wilson starts experimenting with calabash (gourd) fruit in a yard at Calabash Bay and encourages the women to make crafts from it. It becomes the group's signature product line.
  3. 2001 Mr. Ralph James donates land on Old Wharf Road, and Food For The Poor adds a wooden building. It becomes the first craft shop and meeting place, and the Starlight is created there.
  4. The Cala-basket The group partners with the St. Helena's Women's Group of Stanmore and Retrieve Hills, known for traditional basket weaving. Together they make the Cala-basket, sold at the craft shop and at craft fairs across the island.
  5. 2004 Hurricane Ivan destroys the wooden shop in September. With help from another Peace Corps volunteer, a matching fund from National Commercial Bank, United Way of Jamaica, USAID, and gifts from past visitors and locals, the group raises the money to rebuild in cement.
  6. 2005 The new group house, built by American volunteers and local builders, with architectural, plumbing and electrical services donated by a local villa owner and labour and materials from several Treasure Beach businesses, opens in August.

More from Treasure Beach's makers

Calabash carvers and other makers of Treasure Beach have profiles of their own, and their work can be browsed by category.

Visit and contact

  • Phone 876-965-3878
  • Email hello@tbwgjamaica.org
  • Website tbwgjamaica.org
  • Office hours Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.; Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
  • Post Treasure Beach Women's Group, Calabash Bay P.A., St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, West Indies

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