Crafting Lionfish Jewelry Registration

Crafting Lionfish Jewelry

Sunday, November 20 from 1:00pm to 3:30pm at Nelson’s Dockyard.

Beautiful jewelry can be crafted from the fins, tails, and spines of invasive lionfish. By utilizing these parts of the fish, which would otherwise be discarded, the landed value per lionfish can be increased by as much as 40 percent, while offering new opportunities both for income generation and awareness raising about the threat posed by this invader.

As part of the overall Antigua Open Lionfish Tournament and Festival program a Lionfish Jewelry Workshop is being offered. Crafting lionfish jewelry offers an opportunity for anyone interested in protecting Antigua’s marine environment to get involved in fighting the lionfish invasion.

The workshop will be held on Sunday, November 20 from 1:00pm to 3:30pm at Nelson’s Dockyard.

No prior jewelry making experience is required. The fee for the class is EC$40 which covers both instruction and a starter kit of jewelry making tools and materials. All participants are guaranteed to leave the class with at least one finished jewelry item! Advance registration is required. For additional information please contact Antigua.Lionfish.Jewelry@gmail.com 

WORKSHOP FACILITATORS

Phil Karp is an expert on lionfish jewelry, having helped to develop the market for this product around the Caribbean and elsewhere. He has conducted lionfish jewelry workshops in Belize, Grenada, and Honduras and has written and lectured about this innovative approach to lionfish management at marine conservation conferences around the world.

Khadija Assales is founder and CEO of Kaj Expressions. She is one of Belize’s best known jewelry artists, having grown her business to encompass retail outlets across the country as well as an online shop and pop-up sales at numerous events. She also has a wide social media following encompassing more than ten percent of Belize’s population. Khadija started making lionfish jewelry in 2013 and it is now one of her best-selling products, particularly in overseas markets. She has represented Belize at several Caribbean-wide trade fairs and expositions and was recently selected as the U.S. State Department Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative’s 2022 Youth Ambassador.

Miranda Askie is one of Antigua’s best known jewelry artists and fashion designers. She is the owner and founder of Miranda Designs. Originally from the nature isle of Dominica, her art draws inspiration from a childhood spent in deep forests and beside fresh rivers combined with influences drawn from the bright turquoise light and crisp salty air of Antigua.