Meet the TCI Shellman, Stanford Handfield, the Artist Behind The Conch Wall at Treasure Beach Village at Beaches Turks and Caicos
This day at Beaches Turks and Caicos looks like a repeat of yesterday and the day before it. Sunny. Colorful. Alive. There’s a tangible feeling, too, a blend of Beaches excitement and Turks and Caicos repose.
Turks and Caicos native, Stanford Handfield, has driven to the family-friendly resort with his granddaughter, who wears a t-shirt that says, “I might be little, but I have my grandfather wrapped around my finger.”
“So true,” Stanford says through a bigger-than-usual smile.
He brought his granddaughter to Beaches Turks and Caicos to show her something special at the all-new Treasure Beach Village that grandpa wants her to see—something beyond magnificent and deeply personal.
“My legacy,” Stanford says.
There, behind the front desk in the Treasure Beach Village lobby, his legacy is impossible to miss. It’s a stunning wall display, the work of Stanford’s hands and imagination: 800 conch shells designed into a giant floor-to-ceiling wave, each shell delicately cut to expose the hidden rose-like silhouettes inside. With affection for his home islands, Stanford calls this “The Roses of Providenciales.”
He stands off to the side and marvels at his granddaughter while she, in turn, marvels at his masterpiece.
“Someday, when she grows up, she can look at the installation and remember what her grandfather did, and know that she is connected to it,” he says.
Becoming “The Shell Man”
“My legacy,” Stanford says.
There, behind the front desk in the Treasure Beach Village lobby, his legacy is impossible to miss. It’s a stunning wall display, the work of Stanford’s hands and imagination: 800 conch shells designed into a giant floor-to-ceiling wave, each shell delicately cut to expose the hidden rose-like silhouettes inside. With affection for his home islands, Stanford calls this “The Roses of Providenciales.”
He stands off to the side and marvels at his granddaughter while she, in turn, marvels at his masterpiece.
“Someday, when she grows up, she can look at the installation and remember what her grandfather did, and know that she is connected to it,” he says.
Ask Stanford where his artistic talent comes from, and he’ll tell a brief story about two of his primary loves: the ocean and his mother.
“My mom made hats and baskets with straw. When I was a little boy, she would send me to the beach to collect the shells she used for decorating the hats. I’d find myself bringing home two containers of shells — one for mom and one for me. At a young age, I didn’t know what to do with the shells. I just thought they were nice.”
As Stanford grew into adulthood, he learned how to fix and captain boats, and to Scuba dive in the Caribbean Sea. It wasn’t until he turned 35 that he taught himself how to create treasures from the same kinds of shells he collected as a boy.
“I began to realize I always had a love for shells and a fascination with mom’s creativity,” he says.
Stanford turned his love into a business and made a name for himself from North Caicos to Providenciales: the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) Shellman. As a conscientious artisan, he uses whatever materials the ocean provides. As an entrepreneur, he studies numbers. He explains like this:
“To meet the needs for food on the islands, fishermen and divers collect 500,000 pounds of conch meat during the season that runs from October to July. It takes two or three conch to provide one pound of meat. That’s nearly 1.5 million conch shells. So, I tell the fishermen to sort through their harvests and bring me the very best quality shells, which I buy.”
Stanford’s shell art provides residents of Turks and Caicos and guests to the archipelago an authentic bond in the form of sculptures, ornaments, and keepsakes. This wall in the Treasure Beach Village lobby takes the bond to another level.
“I’ve done major projects,” he says, “but never anything like this.”
A Wall that Takes You Into Turks and Caicos
Before there could be a vision for Roses of Providenciales or even for a Treasure Beach Village, there first had to be a grand concept for the entire project.
“Turks is one of most beautiful settings I’ve ever seen,” says Danielle Darling, Senior Manager of Interior Designs for Sandals and Beaches Resorts. “So, we wanted the space inside to reflect what’s outside. To do that well, we needed to make an immediate impression on guests, to wow them with something they will never see anywhere but here.”
When she saw Stanford’s work, specifically the way he cut conch shells to expose the natural shapes of roses within the shell, she sensed his innate ability to capture the island culture.
“We knew he would give guests a first and lasting impression of Turks and Caicos.”
Stanford called on his fishermen friends to deliver the most perfect conch shells, 800 of them to be exact. He cut them with precision. He applied a layer of cement to the wall and positioned those conch roses into a spectacular welcome. The process took nearly two months, culminating with a feeling that’s often elusive for artists: pride.
“I’m grateful to the people at Beaches,” he says, looking at the wall with his granddaughter. “They gave me the opportunity to accomplish a dream.”
His Legacy in Plain Sight
The conch mural is a giant leap from Stanford’s first attempt at shell art 30 years ago when he started with a nightlight. Just a small shell with a light inside. He gave it as a gift to a friend.
“Years later, I offered to buy it back because my work had improved and I didn’t like that nightlight,” he says. “She wouldn’t sell it though.”
The nightlight had meaning, even if it was the size of a thumb. Stanford has now applied meaning to an entire wall. The Roses of Providenciales is more than a cool piece of art. It’s a timeless connection between the island, the ocean, and generations of his family.
“It feels great to look at it and to see my granddaughter beside it, imagining her returning to it years from now,” he says. “She can be just as proud as I am.”