Omar Daley sustaining dying art of basket weaving
FOR CENTURIES, many Jamaicans were preoccupied with the making of baskets and other household items from a variety of straw, a material created from the fronds of palm trees that grow in great abundance all over the island.
But, decades ago, because of the mass production of cheap plastic items, the death knell was sounded for straw weaving. The fall-off also came with the all-inclusive concept of tourism. The days of tourists travelling on foot, carrying these woven accessories, are long gone.
Yet, it seems like basketry is forever defying death, clinging on to the last straw for dear life. One of the people keeping it alive, pulsating, is Omar Daley of Cottage district in Westmoreland. The Gleaner met him at the recently concluded Caribbean Travel Marketplace, held at the Montego Bay Conference Centre in St James.
He was making, displaying, and selling his neat, clean, and creative pieces in a booth called Artisan Village Falmouth. He is expecting to operate a shop in that space when it is opened at Hampden Wharf at the port of Falmouth in Trelawny later this year.
Daley is aware that he is one of the sustainers of what he calls “a dying art”, which he learned by watching his mother, who was taught by her mother. At one point, he said it was the occupation of most people in his district. At age seven, he said, he made his first pieces, which his mother sold in Montego Bay, and was encouraged by monetary returns.
He subsequently sold more items to help send himself to school, he said. However, it did not dawn on him that he would spend the rest of his life earning a living from basketry. He tried carpentry but had to quit for health reasons. Out of frustration, he resorted to basketry, which is a skill he recognised that he had.
Daley was well aware of the frustration his mother, whom he called a “determined woman”, was facing in terms of not getting most of her pieces sold after journeying from Westmoreland to Montego Bay. But he was not daunted. There was a future with the straws.
Now in his early 30s, Daley is convinced that basket weaving is what he wants to do and has plans for growing his business, which is named First Straw. He loves what he does, and says, “Basketry should be my legacy.” He also wants to pass on the art to other people, including his offspring.
Along the way, he met Richard Miller and Tobie Phillips, who, he says, have supported him tremendously, giving him business and creative advice for him to survive in a market that can be very slow at times. He plans to stay ahead of the competition by producing high-quality and stylish pieces.
“I take pride in my work. My work is not something that you are going to purchase and throw down. You must be happy that you have bought it,” the man otherwise known as Sheldon told The Gleaner.