Six Scott Street, St Clair, Port-of-Spain has been transformed into an architectural statement. SO got the backstory of the renovation from Michele Jodhan…

My father did the first renovation. Here’s where our children were raised and where we lived except for a few years abroad. My brother Michael Jodhan is the architect of this house. The focus of the original design was with teenaged and young-adult children in mind. My brother presented two proposals for renovations, and then the third time, he came up with the idea that we would just put on another floor because the original building was one storey, very much like the houses on this street, built in 1935, very bungalow-style, not a colonial style; it was post-colonial.

One day…

… I went to see my brother and he said, “By the way, when we put on the top floor, the bottom has this little wall, and that wall and this little wall because you know the top has to line up with the bottom.” I said, “Michael, what does that mean, we have to take down the house?” His reply: “Let it be known that is the decision of the client.”

We started over and took down the house.

HOME came about…

… because of many factors; like everything in life, it is never about one thing; it’s always a series of things. The gap between when we came up with the concept of the house and redoing it and [when it became] ‘occupiable’ was longer than we anticipated. It is a simple build but it was still so unusual, maybe because of its simplicity, and I think from an engineering perspective, it was maybe a little more daring from what is the norm. So it took a little longer and there were many setbacks during the process. So, by the time it got to the end, we were not utilising the house the way we imagined. All our so-called adult children are not in Trinidad, or they have moved on, and so there was a certain underutilisation of the space. It was also bigger to carry than everything that we had wanted at that stage.

It’s just how stages of life are…

…and so we (my daughter Anya and I) were looking at all sorts of things and came up with this idea. Living in the bigger world that she does, seeing the possibilities outside of co-working space, seeing a co-working space, thinking how we can utilise it in that way… we jumped on board with her and basically created a space for the creative industries.

It is a work-in-progress …

… HOME is more of a defined work-in-progress. I would say that in this further defined work of progress, it’s very much an art work-in-progress. I say that because of its creative energy, both in terms of the physicality of the space and in terms of what is going on here. I honestly believe space is what is driving it. In other words, had this space not been what it is, the next stage could not have happened the way it did.

The Café…

We had more books in here and so we referred to this little area as our library. It was a place you could sit and read and just lyme and hang out. It has also been a parlour, you know the old-time houses, like you walked in and you had a little parlour where you were sort of received, it is kind of like a receiving room. Right now, it serves as many things; we still refer to it as the library, even though we didn’t change the terminology. People who work in the space use it because they have high-speed Internet here so they come and sit and they work. People take meetings here. It’s a space to sit, work, have a coffee and people also use it to eat as an extension of the food area. It is a very versatile little space of calm.

EXHIBIT A

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Exhibit A was launched by Anya Ayoung-Chee Limited as a flagship retail space located in St Clair, the heart of historical Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. The space offers a luxe retail experience that promotes emerging design talent, showcasing up to 20 local and regional designers at a time. Also in the works is Exhibit A’s online store, geared towards exposing Caribbean design to international shoppers.

Anya shares more exclusively with SO.

Style Observer (SO): What has the reception been thus far to HOME?

Anya Ayoung-Chee (AAC): The reception Exhibit A at HOME has received so far has been extremely encouraging. Following the success of our first in-store event, An Evening of Shopping, we quickly came to the realisation that consumers of local fashion crave events-based retail. Therefore, we have attempted to tap into the social aspect of shopping by hosting in-store fashion orientated events quite frequently.

We decided to offer our customers the added value of socialising, networking and entertainment while shopping. Our location at HOME doesn’t allow us to compete with the easy in-and-out accessibility regular shopping malls may have. However, based on the overwhelmingly positive response we’ve received with our current model we don’t necessarily see this as a disadvantage. It is evident that our customers may not want a typical, mall-like experience when shopping local designs.

In a market flooded with rapidly accessible imported fashions, consumers appreciate getting to slow down a bit, receive personal attention from designers and make a whole experience out of shopping local fashion with friends.

SO: Who is the typical customer?

AAC: Our typical consumer consists of young, socially active professionals who are fashion-conscious and are always looking to add something special to their wardrobe. Our customers are tech-savvy, active on social media and, most of all, appreciative of local design aesthetics. They also value the opportunity to connect and network across industries when they attend our after-work shopping events.

SO: How do you plan to further engage global interest in Caribbean designs?

AAC: One project in development that we hope will give Caribbean design more exposure is the launch of Exhibit A’s e-commerce platform. The continued success of online store ‘The cANYAval Shop’ (which offers designer Carnival wear and accessories) provides us with an example of what’s possible for locally designed casual wear. Through cANYAval, we’ve managed to garner the attention of consumers internationally and we hope to do the same with Exhibit A.

In addition, we’ve begun broadening our horizons by inviting brands that may not be based locally or regionally but still reflect the West Indian aesthetic. We hope the participation of these global brands brings international consumers to Exhibit A and results in increased global interest for all participant designers.

SO: How do you select designers, and is there a shelf life?

AAC: Designers are carefully curated by me. I hand-pick promising regional designers and provide mentorship through the early stages of brand development.

Designers are rotated throughout the various seasons depending on their suitability and many are invited repeatedly based on their performance.

The designers currently on show are:

Meiling (Meiling Esau)

Meiling (Anthony Reid)

Sew Lisa (Lisa Gittens)

Ben Caribe (Abby Charles)

Shop Shari (Shari Cumberbatch)

Janice Derrick Jewellery

(Janice Derrick)

Mark Eastman

William McIntosh

Immortelle Beauty Ltd (Kathryn Nurse)

Turtle Warrior by Nature Seekers (Emma Forster-Hiscock)

Peta Odini (Odini Sutherland)

Fashion is Payne (Jeremy Payne)

Lend & Borough (Melissa Darbeau)

The Urban Factory (Joel Skerritt)