Arts of the Sailor Portland, Maine
The strong knots used by sailors provided secure links to tools and lines on board ship. Arts of the Sailor brings this ruggedly beautiful ropework into your home. These knots are quickly becoming a lost art and Arts of the Sailor is one of a very few companies in the country producing traditional maritime knots. They make jewelry, bookmarks, ornaments, coasters, toys and pet products from the different sailor’s knots traditionally used onboard ship.
Barbette Behm happened upon traditional ropework while looking for a way to make a handle for Nantucket lightship baskets. She wanted to use traditional maritime materials, but decided against scrimshaw because it wasn’t historically appropriate to the baskets. She decided on knotwork and read up on the topic before teaching herself to make the intricate knots. After that she was hooked. Since the knots were easier and quicker to make than the baskets, they soon became the focus of her business. Barbette, her husband and two part-time helpers do all of the work by hand, including product creation, packaging and filling orders. Each product is labeled with a “history tag.” These labels tell customers the name of the knot, traditional uses and the length of rope used to make the piece. That history and tradition is important to Barbette and she considers it her strongest selling point.
Barbette sees Arts of the Sailor as part of a community of small, local business doing traditional craftwork. She has been going to the New England Products Trade Show for fifteen years. Since she does no other marketing she relies on it for her entire customer base.
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