Judith Samuels has been involved in the business of designing and making her own creations, carrying on a legacy started by her father. Like all her nine siblings, Samuels' childhood was fully surrounded by craft, because her father made items such as cups and bowls from coconut shells. This sparked Samuels' love for the trade.
But her father was also a tailor, and her sister was a dressmaker, both of whom influenced her first profession as a fashion designer. "I used to stand up by the machine and watch him when I was little, and I would watch everything he did. That piqued my interest, and I realised I have an interest in making stuff.
I like to use my hands to create things," Samuels said. So, in 1996, Samuels went to Annie Gee's School of Fashion to become a certified designer, and for 10 years she happily made clothes for her customers. However, the rise in 'fast fashion' caused a drastic decline in the demand of her services.
"I use to do uniform and mek like bush jacket and those stuff, take it abroad and sold it. But after a while, it just was not working out, because sometimes yuh finish a job and you just can't get paid. And cheap [made in] China clothes derailed everything too, because very few people wanted to wait for their clothes to be made when they could just buy it up out of a store," Samuels said.
However, she said that she is still a designer at heart and occasionally makes uniforms for relatives and clothing for her mother. Being forced to pivot, Samuels .
