Claude Mills, Staff Reporter
CLARENCE FOSTER
THERE ARE few men who can appreciate the kind of attention to detail and care needed to caress shapes out of a block of wood. One such man is furniture maker Clarence Foster, this year's Governor-General's Achievement Award (GGAA) awardee for St. Catherine.
"Most of the furniture in my house I made it myself," he told a Gleaner news team while showing off a mahogany breakfront at his home in Greendale, St. Catherine. "I took nine days to make this, and I did it all myself."
One innovative piece that is almost guaranteed to raise eyebrows is a mahoe door frame with metal grillwork on the inside that sits in between the kitchen and the hall leading to the bedrooms of the house.
"This is my own invention. I think that grills on the inside of your home sometimes make your passageway look like a jailhouse, so I came up with this," he said.
Mr. Foster owns a business, 'Homemakers Woodcraft', and currently designs and manufactures a wide range of household furniture, kitchen cabinets and commercial furniture and fixtures. He has trained many apprentices, as well as students from the HEART programme, and provided employment to a number of skilled and unskilled persons.
HELPING THE YOUNG
"I like to help the young boys gain a skill. They come for job experience and they graduate good tradesmen. I love being able to contribute to society by training young men," he said.
Mr. Foster also finds time to devote to his community, serving as a justice of the peace and lay magistrate, where he sits at the Juvenile and Petty Session Courts and conducts identification parades, among other duties.
