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“I create miracles. Anything I touch is gold.”

The jewel of Lower Elletson Road

May 30^th, 2024

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A novel social enterprise helps artisans turn better profits working with local minerals

The stunning red jasper catching sunlight in Maëlle and Sâyan Johnston’s hands, was probably fished out of the bottom of a river on Jamaica’s east coast, camouflaged by ordinary, everyday stones. But while river stones are as plentiful as rocks below the surface of many Jamaican rivers, a fraction like this jasper, can be traded in global multimillion dollar markets.

Jasper, agate, quartz, calcite, malachite, and azurite – all semi-precious stones – are scattered along riverbeds, riverbanks and fields across Jamaica, indistinguishable from common rocks to all but the trained eye. It’s the same for other lesser-known Development Minerals, like alabaster, which can tower over sections of eastern Jamaica, covered by thin layers of forest.

Local artisans like Maëlle and Sâyan know the locations, value and potential. In 2022, the global market in semi-precious stones stood at US$250 million yearly. It’s forecast to reach $678.1 million 2029. Along with marble and travertine, global alabaster trade was $2.03 billion in 2022.

“I create miracles. Anything I touch is gold.”

Keen to tap into this global opportunity, the Johnston sisters work with semi-precious stones and other materials like conch shells and silver, transforming them into wearable, utilitarian and healing art. Their studio is a converted warehouse on Lower Elletson Road in downtown Kingston, seconds away from low-income communities that can instantly become war zones.

In 2015, the corner warehouse was renamed ‘Artisan House’ when Maëlle switched up her business model and opened the doors to talented members of the Jamaican artisan community. Her business brand, Mae Market, became a social enterprise organization dedicated to supporting, training, representing and guiding other artisans, working as a business and creative incubator, especially assisting those without connections and capital. Her goal, she says, was to help artisans produce and market value-added products, specializing in locally-sourced minerals.

“In Jamaica, we're seeing a growing market for artisan products, but one of the major issues is that the raw materials being used in their products is not locally sourced,” she says.

She decided to channel some of her supplies of local semi-precious stones to other artisans to be able to use as raw materials for their end products.

“We custom made (raw materials) for artisans to create truly value-added Jamaican made products – where they’re not just (importing) from wherever in the world but giving it a Jamaican footprint, utilizing our Jamaican stones,” she says. “We have the machines to cut, polish and bring them to an end product."

The Development Minerals Programme implemented by the UNDP immediately recognized that Maëlle Johnston’s enterprise was ripe for capacity building and knowledge sharing. The Development Minerals Programme is strengthening the sector to showcase and fulfil its economic potential with financing from the Organization of African Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) and the European Union. In Jamaica, UNDP is working in partnership with the Mines and Geology Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining.

But just as Maëlle was about to participate in the Development Minerals Programme’s life-changing training exchange in South Africa in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

It ushered in the chilling prospect of economic ruin not only for Mae Markets, but the network of over 25 artisans who relied on it. The Development Minerals Programme stepped in, in 2021, with a $5,000 grant – one of 19 grants to Jamaican artisans since 2019, at a combined value of $125,000.

Trials preceded breakthrough for this fearless entrepreneur. Back in 2014, for example, a customer absconded with her inventory and consignment of sales earnings. “It shut us down. We had to scale back production to customized pieces only,” she says. The second time, she closed for a number of years as the economic downturn impacted the business. In 2016, tragedy struck. Mae Market’s jeweller was murdered in a drive-by shooting. He worked closely with her to implement her designs, so her production line was decimated.

“We were able to refurbish our machines, purchase new or second-hand machines and really fix those up. We also bought tools and different supplies that were needed as well to work with the semi-precious stones,” she says.

Turning point

But the turning point came when she also used the grant to pivot her marketing and distribution model from retail pops ups to a business-to-business model that connected the artisans with retailers, hotels, restaurants and gift shops. Her team photographed the products in their best light and shopped classy catalogues to potential markets.

The investment in equipment, distribution and marketing paid off. Maëlle reports Mae Market's business has grown over 200 percent since 2020, including the pandemic years when many enterprises shut down. Combined sales income for her artisans also grew – 161 percent over the 2020 to 2021 period, a whopping 768 percent in 2021 to 2022 and another 20 percent in 2022 to 2023.

Artisan House’s inventory of some 25 to 30 pieces of custom equipment, which cuts and polishes semi-precious stones, is now one of a kind in Jamaica.

“Not only was this grant able to help us to develop the semi-precious stone industry in Jamaica, but also we've been able to utilize our machines and tools to develop and diversify our portfolio,” says Maelle.

Artisan House now also creates glass products from recycled bottles, and loans their equipment to other artisans who work in mixed materials like coconut shell, cow horn or bone, seashells and other stones.

Sâyan, co-founder, and Managing and Creative Director, came home from studies in industrial design at the Pratt Institute in New York City just in time to support the COVID-era pivot.

“I was just really thankful that we were able to build back the space in order to make these fun products. It was really exciting to be in a space where I'm able to create among other artisans who are equally as excited as me about creating new and interesting products. It was just a really great opportunity."

Artisan and master craftsman, Valentine ‘Koda’ McLean, one of five on the Mae Market team, runs Koda Handmade, working with coconut, calabash, seeds, shells, cow horn and bone.

“(Now I have) access to all the machines that I can create almost anything you can think of, thanks to Maelle. I create miracles. Anything I touch is gold.”

Another member of the artisan network, Egbert ‘Stone Boss’ Hamilton who specializes in alabaster, praises Mae Market.

“In terms of sales, it helped me to sell the product … to design different, fresh things, that can take the market more readily, and it's been going good. I just have to produce the things; they will do the sales, and we are in business.”

When Bonito ‘Don Dada’ Thompson was in search of adequate space to execute a massive project for a popular north coast spot, he sought a place his team would feel safe and happy.

“Oh, it's amazing having such a space,” he says of Artisan House. “It's easy to work out of - without this, we would not be able to do this project, point blank."

“They needed a space, they needed access to machinery and tools,” Maëlle says. "We were able to invite artisans of different disciplines to utilize our machines and access space to do their works. This is a much-needed thing for our community of artisans, within the current economic environment, with significant limitations on access to support and resources, especially for businesses within the creative and artisan sectors."

With a forward-thinking model that serves hope and practical support to creatives, Artisan House towers over its corner location, as a shining example of all that is right on Lower Elletson Road.