Every summer, Aidan Anais Barrow left Nassau for Exuma, where her grandmother Eloise Johnson taught her to plait straw — not as a craft project, but as preparation for a livelihood. By age seven or eight, Barrow was making handbags to sell at the straw market in New Providence, learning a skill her grandmother had turned into one of three businesses she ran alongside her work as a janitress and a tuck shop operator. That chain of transmission — grandmother to granddaughter, Exuma to Nassau, market stall to luxury brand — is the untold story of the Bahamian straw trade.
Aidan Barrow learned to plait straw each summer in Exuma with her grandmother Eloise Johnson, then sold the bags at New Providence’s straw market. That intergenerational line stretches back further than any written record captures.
The Bahamian straw trade was built by women — women from the Family Islands who turned a functional skill into an economic backbone. Today, brands like Barrow’s Haus of Assembly are reimagining that heritage for a global audience, but the foundation remains the knowledge passed down across generations. This article traces the women who built the trade, how the craft survives, and what its evolution means for the women still plaiting straw today — whether in a Nassau market stall or a Port Plaza studio.
The straw trade in The Bahamas has never been a single thing. It’s a family economy, a design tradition, a tourism industry, and increasingly, a vehicle for brand building by Bahamian women who grew up inside it. The full story includes women like Eloise Johnson who kept the craft alive through sheer entrepreneurship, and granddaughters like Aidan Barrow who studied accessory design at SCAD and now stock a store at Nassau Cruise Port. Neither version is more “authentic” — both are part of the same story.
The straw trade has shifted dramatically in scale, audience, and aesthetic over the past half-century. This table compares the traditional model — still alive in Nassau’s straw market — with the contemporary brand approach represented by businesses like Haus of Assembly.
| Attribute | Traditional straw trade (mid-20th century) | Contemporary straw brand (2020s) |
|---|---|---|
| Primary makers | Women from Family Islands (Exuma, Andros, Long Island) | Designers trained in accessory design and business |
| Sales channel | Nassau straw market, roadside stalls, informal networks | Online store, resort pop-ups, cruise port retail |
| Customer base | Tourists, locals for functional use | International resort visitors, design-conscious consumers |
| Skill transmission | Oral/family-based (grandmother to grandchild) | Family base complemented by BAIC certification and university degrees |
| Design approach | Functional items (totes, hats, mats) | Curated prints, limited runs, luxury branding |
The Women Who Built the Trade
The straw trade in The Bahamas doesn’t have a single origin point. What records exist suggest that women from the Family Islands — Exuma, Andros, Long Island, Cat Island — were plaiting straw for practical use long before the first tourist boat arrived. By the mid-20th century, straw work had become one of the few reliable income streams for women in communities with limited formal employment. Eloise Johnson, Barrow’s grandmother, embodied this era. She worked as a janitress, ran a tuck shop, and plaiting straw on the side — three enterprises that together supported her family.
The women who sold at Nassau’s straw market were often the primary earners in their households. Many traveled from their home islands to Nassau for weeks at a time, staying with relatives or in boarding houses, selling their goods to tourists and returning home with cash that paid for school fees, groceries, and land. The trade was seasonal — peaking during the winter tourist months — and deeply competitive. Women guarded their plaiting techniques and design variations as trade secrets.
What’s often overlooked is the geographic specificity of the skill. Women from different islands developed distinct plaiting styles, using local materials and responding to local demand. A hat from Exuma might use a different stitch than one from Andros, and a bag from Long Island might incorporate a weave not seen elsewhere. The straw trade, in other words, was never a monolith — it was a network of island-specific practices that converged in Nassau’s market stalls.
Outsiders often assume that goods sold at the straw market are imported or mass-produced. In reality, much of the hand-plaited work — especially items brought in from the Family Islands — is still made by women who learned the skill from their mothers and grandmothers. That said, some vendors do sell imported goods alongside local work. Ask where an item was made; most sellers will tell you directly.
The skill itself has a transmission chain worth examining beyond the family unit.
Learning Across Generations
Barrow learned to plait from her grandmother in Exuma during summer visits. That pattern — a grandmother teaching a grandchild during school break — is how the craft survived the 20th century. But the transmission pathway has widened in recent decades. Barrow completed a straw certification course at the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation (BAIC) during her freshman summer, then earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accessory design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). The craft that began in Eloise Johnson’s hands now passes through formal institutions as well as family kitchens.
This dual pathway — family knowledge plus institutional training — is increasingly common among younger Bahamian designers. It creates a tension worth naming: some traditional plaiters view institutional certification as a departure from the craft’s roots, while younger makers see it as a necessary adaptation for a global market. The debate is unresolved, and both sides have valid points. What’s clear is that the knowledge is still being transmitted, even as the method changes.
Still, the institutional pathway matters. BAIC’s certification program has trained dozens of women in straw work, providing a credential that some use to access small business loans or market spaces. And SCAD’s curriculum gave Barrow the design vocabulary to translate traditional plaiting into a modern product line — the hibiscus print she started with is still in production today.
If you visit Nassau’s straw market and want to buy hand-plaited work, look for items with slight irregularities in the weave — that’s a sign of hand production. Ask the vendor directly: “Did you make this yourself?” Many women will tell you which island they’re from and how long the piece took to make. Those conversations are part of the transaction’s value.
From Plait to Product
The material itself — straw — is less straightforward than it sounds. The term “straw” in The Bahamas covers several plant fibers, including silver palm, sisal, and the leaves of the coconut palm. Each fiber requires different preparation: drying, stripping, sometimes dyeing using natural or commercial pigments. The plaiting itself is a braiding process that produces a flat strip, which is then coiled and stitched into the final shape. A single bag can take days to complete, depending on the complexity of the pattern.
Barrow’s initial product line included hand-crafted carry-ons — totes and weekenders — alongside toiletry bags, makeup bags, and passport covers. She started with six styles, 20 units each, and sold out in two months. Today, Haus of Assembly produces about two new prints and two colors annually, with roughly ten core styles available across nine prints and colors. Current production runs are about 100 units per print and color; when they’re gone, they’re gone.
The shift from functional straw work to a luxury brand is not without its critics. Some longtime market vendors argue that the high price points of designer straw goods price out the very tourists who once bought directly from plaiters. Others counter that the brand model creates a sustainable livelihood for younger women who might otherwise leave the craft entirely. Both positions are grounded in real experience.
A New Chapter at Nassau Cruise Port
Haus of Assembly is one of six local brands with retail space at Port Plaza, the shopping complex within Nassau Cruise Port. The location is strategic: thousands of cruise passengers pass through daily, providing a customer base far larger than any stand-alone boutique could attract. Barrow’s store opened with a public event featuring the Golden Jubilee Collection, a limited-edition line for The Bahamas’ 50th anniversary celebrations.
The store is designed as an experiential retail concept — customers can watch items being made, customize details, and have pieces monogrammed. That transparency is a deliberate contrast to the opaqueness of some market transactions, where the maker is invisible and the provenance unclear. Barrow wants buyers to see the skill involved, partly as a way of valuing the work and partly as a continuation of her grandmother’s practice: in the Exuma tuck shop, you could watch Eloise Johnson plait while she rang up your purchases.
Barrow’s color palette has shifted since her early days. She started with black, brown, and nude, then added green (a banana leaf print in emerald green, black, and aqua), yellow (a pineapple print in golden yellow), and navy. She deliberately avoids what she calls “bright tourist-gaze colors” — the neon pinks and electric blues that dominate souvenir stalls. The brand name itself, Haus of Assembly, was chosen by Barrow; her mother Renee Barrow suggested the “haus” spelling, drawing on German for “house.” The name nods to the Bahamas’ parliamentary tradition and to the assembly of products and people the brand brings together.
The Haus of Assembly store at Nassau Cruise Port Port Plaza is open to the public — you don’t need a cruise ticket to enter. Visit during late afternoon when cruise crowds thin, and ask to see the Golden Jubilee Collection. Barrow is often on-site and will talk through the design process if her schedule allows.
Context and Comparison: Straw Work Across the Bahamas
The straw trade varies significantly across islands, even within a single archipelago. The table below compares three major producing regions based on available research.
| Region | Primary fiber | Signature item | Sales channel | Notable feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exuma | Silver palm | Woven handbags | Nassau market, local stalls | Family-based production; Eloise Johnson’s home base |
| Andros | Thatch palm | Hats, mats | Roadside stands, Nassau market | Coarser weave; often used for heavy-duty items |
| Long Island | Sisal | Decorative baskets | Local cooperatives, Nassau | Fine, tight weave; natural dyes more common |
A common oversimplification is that “straw market” goods are uniform across the country. In reality, the material, technique, and item type vary by island and by family tradition. What you buy in Nassau might have been made in Exuma or Long Island or even imported from Haiti — the label on the stall doesn’t always tell you. Asking where the maker is from is the simplest way to get the real picture.
The comparison between traditional and contemporary approaches doesn’t have a neat resolution. Some women are returning to the craft after years away, drawn by the premium prices designer brands can command. Others are abandoning it entirely, unable to compete with imported machine-made goods that sell for a fraction of the price. The straw trade is simultaneously being elevated and eroded, sometimes by the same economic forces.
- The Bahamian straw trade was built by women from the Family Islands who turned a domestic skill into a regional economic engine.
- Knowledge transmission has shifted from purely oral/family-based to include institutional certification and university design programs.
- The shift from market stalls to luxury brands creates both opportunity and tension — access to global markets vs. pricing out traditional customers.
- Regional variation in materials and techniques means “straw work” is a category, not a single product. Always ask where and by whom an item was made.
Questions Readers Ask About the Bahamian Straw Trade
Is the straw trade still run by women?
Yes, overwhelmingly. Women remain the primary makers and sellers of hand-plaited straw goods across The Bahamas. Men are involved in harvesting and preparing raw fibers, but the plaiting, stitching, and selling are still dominated by women, particularly from the Family Islands.
Are the goods at the straw market authentic?
Some are, some aren’t. Vendors sell a mix of hand-plaited local work and imported machine-made items. The best way to know is to ask the seller directly where the item was made and who made it. Most will answer honestly, and the conversation itself is part of the experience.
How long does it take to make a straw bag?
It varies widely by size and complexity. A small handbag might take a full day of plaiting plus a day of assembly. Larger, more intricate pieces can take several days. The current production run for Haus of Assembly is about 100 units per design across all colors — a scale that reflects the handcrafted nature of the work.
Is the straw trade dying out?
Not exactly, but it’s changing. Older plaiters are retiring, and fewer young women are learning the skill from family members. At the same time, formal training programs and designer brands are creating new pathways into the trade. Whether that amounts to a revival or a transformation depends on who you ask.
What’s the biggest misconception about Bahamian straw work?
That it’s a single, static tradition. In reality, the materials, techniques, and designs vary by island, by family, and by generation. The straw trade has always been evolving — what looks like decline to one person looks like adaptation to another.
What the Straw Trade Reveals About Bahamian Women’s History
The Bahamian straw trade is not a quaint craft story. It’s a story of women who built economic networks across islands, who kept skills alive through oral transmission, and who navigated the shift from subsistence market stalls to global retail without losing the core knowledge. Barrow’s grandmother Eloise Johnson ran three businesses from a tuck shop in Exuma; her granddaughter now stocks a store at one of the busiest cruise ports in the Caribbean. That line of transmission — from hands to hands, from island to island — is the story that matters.
For more on how Bahamian family structures shape cultural transmission across islands, read Family Islands, Family Values: Exploring Inter-Island Cultural Differences, which examines how kinship networks sustain practices like straw work outside the capital.
Sources and further reading
Aidan Barrow. “Step into the Haus of Assembly.” The Nassau Guardian. 2025. 🔗
Native Stew. “The History and Future of Straw in The Bahamas.” 2024. 🔗
Related reading on IslandHopperGuides
Bahamian Storytelling: Legends Woven into the Fabric of Island Life — explores oral tradition, the other primary vehicle for intergenerational knowledge in Bahamian culture.
The Art of Plaiting: Unraveling the Intricate Designs of Bahamian Hair Traditions — examines a related plaiting tradition that runs parallel to straw work in Bahamian women’s craft repertoire.
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