JBDC Stages Textiles Workshop Series

Local designers are being encouraged to participate in the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) textiles workshop series, which aims to explore decoration techniques using hand painting.

The workshops will be held in two parts, each comprising four sessions.

The first workshop, scheduled for February 14, 16, 21, and 23, will concentrate on silk painting, and the second event on March 7, 9, 14, and 16, will focus on hand painting.

Both workshops will take place at the JBDC Incubator and Resource Centre on Marcus Garvey Drive in Kingston from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily, at a cost of $7,500 per workshop. The cost will cover all the materials needed for the sessions.

Persons interested in participating may visit https://www.jbdc.net/event/textiles-workshop-series/ to complete the application forms.

In an interview with JIS News, Fashion Designer at the JBDC, Robert Hall, said that fashion has always been a focus of the agency.

“We have, over the years, embraced and initiated programmes to bring together particular skills,” he noted.

He shared that at the JBDC’s inception, there was a gap in trend as well as understanding the relationship with international markets.

To tackle this issue, “we basically used the materials around us to create something that will be relevant to the markets that are there… to address the issue of raw materials, and we were looking at things like weaving and knitting, and painting that are specific to fabric”, Mr. Hall explained.

He noted: “In 2018, we started this thrust of partnering with the Nigerian government where we have introduced the tie- dye batik. Now we are pushing the Jamaican motifs and… we are extending beyond just the batik to the hand-painting portion, which is what this [workshop] is about.”

The workshop sessions will be facilitated by technical experts from Nigeria, including the Nigerian Cultural Diplomat to Jamaica, Alao Luqman, as well as trained employees of the JBDC.

The workshops, dubbed ‘JADIRE’, are a continuation of the JBDC’s Festival of the Cloth series, which commenced in 2021.

JADIRE is a combination of the word Jamaica with the Yoruba word ‘ADIRE’ which means tie and dye textile.

The use of ADIRE plays an important role in sustaining the cultural identity of a people and will further enhance Jamaica’s cultural expression on the global stage.

Over the past four years, Nigeria has partnered with the JBDC to execute several workshops across the island.

Source: JIS