Palm Beach — Each month, Caribbean Queen at Palm Beach Plaza Mall honors one local female artist who lives and creates here. The Caribbean Queen program was launched when the store opened in late 2011, and has been running successfully ever since.
For the month of September 2015, local artist Annelotte Ellis is the boutique’s celebrated Caribbean Queen, showcasing her charming unique Art handbags in the store.
Born in Aruba, Anna Carlota Ellis, lovingly called Annelotte by her family members and friends, has wrestled with severe dyslexia all her life, and consequently learned to express herself through Art, at a very early age. As the daughter of culinary entrepreneur Eduardo Ellis of Papiamento restaurant fame, the logical choice for a career seemed a focus on culinary art. As a fan of the functional aspect as well as the artistic aspect of food, Annelotte devoted six years of her early career to cooking, keeping up with her painting and drawing all along. Yet she soon found out that the two dimensional aspect of her craft, painting and drawing, did not satisfy her and she started experimenting with different mediums. At the time, inspired by the Caribbean’s Indian heritage, she picked up crochet, an old, almost forgotten art, and because she appreciates functionality, she has evolved her crochet art into making, one of a kind, bohemian style handbags. Annelotte is now incorporating other mediums such as photography, leather and other techniques in these handmade handbags, which she also makes on special order. Annelotte is honored, she says, to present her latest collection at Caribbean Queen.
Caribbean Queen earmarks a percentage of all sales for its Tikkun Olam (Repair of the World) program. The collected funds are given quarterly to local not-for-profit organizations in an ongoing effort to do good and serve the community. All the foundations served with donations from Caribbean Queen are dedicated to the promotion of art and artisan education on the island.
Enjoy the unique pieces by Annelotte throughout the month of September, and drop in to witness a live demonstration of her craft at the boutique on the third Thursday of the month, in the evening hours.
