Duck Girl

Jade Drakes in her St James shop, Duck Girl

I've known Jade for a long time - since we were teenagers.  But it had been easily 15 years since last I'd seen her, when she popped in at the sale of a friend of ours.  She looked much the same - dressed quirkily, wearing a very interesting ring she'd made.  It was a clove of garlic, she'd said.  Something for her mum.  She also said she'd just come home to Trinidad after many years rambling around the world, learning to make things.  She'd opened on shop in St James and I should come by.

I did - a couple of weeks ago.  And it was enchanting.  Jade is the kind of person who really should have been born during the 19th Century!  She's a collector and maker of things.  Her shop, which is called Duck Girl, is a little gem of a place - full of things she loves and has made.  I was thrilled to find it.

Jade recently started making aprons, using lace she has collected from all over the world.  She showed me an gorgeous antique apron, made of satin with embroidered flowers.  She has pieces of furniture and light fixtures that she's found about the place; tiny rings and earrings that she's made with beads she's been collecting, and little objects for sale which she thinks are beautiful and interesting.

Going into Jade's shop is a bit of a Looking Glass experience.  I was carried into her world of beautiful things, lovingly and carefully created, and it was a delight.

Some of Jade's aprons

Plants and containers

A collection of buttons and rolls of antique ribbons

You can find Duck Girl on the Western Main Road, on the corner opposite George Cabral Street.