By Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon
CJ Travel Editor
AS A black-belt international shopper, I’m bound by two retail rules: shop local, and shop often. So on a recent jaunt to St Croix for the annual Food and Wine Experience (stxfoodandwine.com), I had to make time between all the fancy dinners, beach barbecues and wine tastings to sample the Virgin’s other fare: indigenous items that are as Crucian as fungi – but a lot more fun to wear!
Sonya’s
I’m pretty sure you’re forbidden to leave the Twin City island without buying a hook bracelet. Almost every Crucian man and woman I met had at least one of these simple silver or gold bracelets circling their wrists, and the place to snag the original, 50-year-old classic is Sonya’s, a tiny storefront on Christiansted’s Company Street. Locals and visitors alike are packed two-deep here, jostling for position at display cases shimmering with handcrafted hammered-finish wristlets, each of which takes about an hour to make. These hooks are big business (they sell as many as 200 a day), and the staff instructs each patron how to wear them correctly: Position the horseshoe-shaped hook to face inward (toward your wrist) if you’re taken, and outward if you’re available. From $60.
Crucian Gold
Forty years ago Brian Bishop started to make jewelry inspired by his love of the sea, tying sailing knots out of precious metals and selling them out of a mahogany box. Now the Crucian Knot is the signature design at his family’s Strand Street, Christiansted boutique and studio, where more than 20 designs (I’m partial to the Butterfly collection) are inspired by the U.S. Virgin’s unique history, culture and natural environment. Brian’s son Nathan and Nathan’s wife Therese now manage the store, which is also one of the best places to have pieces of chaney (the colonial-era Danish pottery shards found all over the island) transformed into jewelry. Silver stacking rings start at just $10; Crucian knot bracelets start at $60; and a burgeoning line of brass designs offers shoppers the look of gold minus the hefty price tag.
Itiba
When Crucian Yoki Hanley couldn’t find any body products that wouldn’t irritate her infant daughter’s delicate skin she decided to make her own. Itiba is a handmade line of all-natural, minimally processed lotions, soaps, oils and body butters that soothe and moisturize the skin with coconut and other tropical oils as they impart heady scents. I chose the hair and body oil in deliciously fruity Papaya and Crucian Spice (made turmeric, clove, black pepper and lavender), but the unctuous mango butter is Itiba’s bestseller, rich with coconut and avocado for sun-ravaged hair and skin.
IB Designs
So you’ve bought a hook bracelet from Sonya’s. But you’ve got two wrists, right? So decorate the other hand (or your neck, or ears) with a bauble or three from IB Designs, just up and across the street. Dominican jeweler Whealan Massicott distinguishes himself with designs that combine forms drawn from nature, Taino symbols, and marine motifs, and his collections are made from gold, silver and chaney, many fashioned with waxed cord for a more casual island vibe. The Infinity is the bestseller among IB’s hook bracelets, but I was swept away (ahem!) by the curvaceous lines of the silver Wave.
Asha
Beach babes won’t know where to look first at this second-floor Company Street trove of all things bright and boho. Owner Sarahjane Mace has curated a Caribbean-cool collection of women’s clothing and accessories perfect for the island lifestyle: Sundresses, harem pants and flowy kaftans (most of which are Sarah’s designs) that take you from beach to sunset cocktails and back. Apparently Asha is also the one-stop shop for local fashionistas’ food festival outfits (and I’ll admit to buying one of mine there), but I was most impressed with the ornate rings, earring and necklaces, which Sarah commissions exclusively for the boutique from Indian silversmiths.