Meet Maro

Meet Maro of Prince Crown, together with an impeccable team of expert Leather Crafters, they are the skillful makers of those beautiful Rasta hats that adorn the heads and dreads of Reggae stars.

Hello Maro, you seem to be very passionate about this Rasta Hat business — is it the Rasta way of life that you follow?

Yes, both my parents are Rastafarians and I grew up attending Twelve Tribe meetings on Hope Road.

What sparked this all off — any early memories of who or what inspired you?

The first person I remember seeing wear a Leather Rasta Crown is Earl “Bagga” Walker of Studio One Records (Coxsone Dodd). Their popularity has no doubt increased since through the likes of Dennis Brown, Black Uhuru and Protoje.

At what point did you decide to make a business of this?

I met Kirk — or Drummy — leather craftsman and musician, in 2017 and we decided to make authentic Jamaican Rasta Hats, available online to people across the world. He has taught me all about Leather Crafting from choosing the right weight of the material to the tools needed.

What special materials are used to craft these voluminous caps?

Originally they were made from upholstery leather scraps and symbolized the coming together of pieces that would otherwise be useless to make an article of clothing that would grow to be fashionable wearable art. Eventually exquisite leather hides would be sourced to make Leather Crowns worthy of top reggae acts.

Describe for us all the hat making process…

Rasta Leather Hats are made by cutting out the patterns, punching holes in the leather, cutting thin strips of lace from the leather then stitching it all together.

Drummy, who is also a drummer, likens the punching to playing drums and keeping a rhythm and brags that he has punched millions of holes over the years.

The crowns are very nice looking. Don’t you sometimes just wish you had three heads so you could wear several at once?

:-) Each crown is like a canvas, sometimes you put together a wide variety of colours with an underlying theme. Sometimes a single piece of leather stands in such a distinguished elegant way that nothing else is needed.

I've never wished for more heads but I wish to see the crowns on almost every head I see. Whenever I'm out and about and I see people about their business I imagine the type of leather crown they would like, the colours that would fit them, the style, how they would wear it, that sort of thing.

Does your family have any involvement in what you do?

Not as such. My sister, Shemana, who models the hats with me is a singer; she released an acclaimed EP recently, Chant Down Babylon, and can be seen on YouTube too. Another of my sisters, Dassita (RootzRock), has developed an interest in the hats and has started making leather products as a hobby.

How far flung have your sales been?

We’ve shipped leather hats to the US, UK, Nigeria, France, Canada and Hong Kong.

You must have a few celebrity customers — have you ever made customised items for any of them?

While we have only been marketing leather crowns online since 2017, each of the Leather Craftsmen we work with have been creating for over thirty years and boast of clientele like Garnett Silk, Dennis Brown, Black Uhuru, Errol Flabba Holt, and Protoje.

Each Leather Crafter has a distinct style that shows in each crown they create and a keen eye will be able to tell the original creator of a crown. We are currently working with Drummy from Mountain View, Georgie and Strength from Downtown Kingston, and Loxley from Linstead.

I once visited Browns Town in search of another leather crafter but found he was no longer interested in creating crowns due to the lack of demand. Hopefully we can get him on board when demand soars again.

Is there any potential for expansion or are you content?

We definitely have potential for expansion. We want to supply the world with Jamaican Leather Crowns. We also want to make them more and more exquisite. Our Leather Crafters are very talented but have also set themselves apart with their attention to detail and high standards.

I envision clients being able to sit with a Leather Crafter and choosing a colour palette and working with our experts to create a crown they love and is a part of them.

What changes for ‘the greater good’ would you like to see in Ochi town?

For Ochi, well we are currently facing a pandemic that has pushed us to be more health conscious and on the craft side I would love to see our craft market filled with persons creating items to bring more authenticity to the items patrons take home.

Our people are so talented and when you see it in action and an item is created right before your eyes, what could be more awesome?

Do carrots scream when you chop them?

No, not a carrot in the hands of a master chef who scrapes it then rhythmically chops pieces destined for a delicious dish. It knows it is part of a larger nutritious dish where it adds its own flavour and can do more when its pieces are spread throughout the dish. It only asks that you plant the carrot top afterwards to give new life. :-)