At the age of 17, a young and enthusiastic Bernadette Francis was introduced to the sea island cotton business in her native homeland of Montserrat. That was 32 years ago when she stumbled across the government Craft Centre which at the time, housed several departments, each producing items in either leather, wood work or craft weaving. Being drawn to weaving, she went on a three (3) month training programme for which she was paid a weekly stipend of EC$60. This programme sponsored by the Government of Montserrat in collaboration with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) was part of government’s thrust to promote small business development in Montserrat.
At the end of the training period, although Francis was able to work on her own, she engaged in an activity with the Craft Centre, referred to as “piece-work”, whereby each item she was assigned to hand weave by the Centre, carried a specific price. For example, if she was assigned to weave place mats, each place mat at the time would carry a cost of EC$3.50, or a napkin EC$1.50. At the end of the week she was paid by the Centre for all items produced.
By now committed to her trade, Francis continued to produce items for sale at the Centre until it closed its doors in 1989. A turning point for Francis, this was the start of a very successful sea island cotton cottage industry in Montserrat. She has since then, been operating her own business for the past twenty (20) years and has overtime relocated home and business to the Caribbean island of Antigua.
FABWeaves is in the business of textiles, but not from synthetic material - from cotton - globally promoted as 'the fabric of our lives'. She is perhaps, one of the few remaining persons in CARICOM in the cotton business and perhaps the only one doing original weaving of textile - using the world renown indigenous 'Sea Island Cotton' as raw material.
FABWeaves is the number one hand-weaving textile company in Antigua and Barbuda. The company weaves the cotton yarn on manual looms to design and construct fabulous, artistic and beautiful fabric. Its range of products include dining accessories - table cloths, place mats, napkins, coasters, household accessories - floor mats, wall hangings, cushion covers, throws, clothing and accessories, including baby blankets, fabrics, sashes, shawls and scarves. FABWeave's inventiveness and creativity allows the company to create made-to-order fabric designs and products tailored to the specific tastes and requirements of the customer. Bernadette proudly boasts that 'every piece of textile is hand-woven -thread by thread'.
