By THEA RUTHERFORD, Guardian National Correspondent

thea@nasguard.com

The fabrics wash over you at Bahama Hand Prints, bathing you in the imaginations of the artists who dreamed them up as they reproduced the world around them.

You walk into the Ernest Street boutique, curious about the concept — The Bahamas? Hand Prints? — and your queries are answered in summer garments covered by printed sketches of the wildlife, the plants, and the treasures you've seen on the country's sands and in its seas. The prints wrap around clothing, bags, towels, dinnerware, drapery even upholstery ... Picture your living room alive with the colors and creatures of The Bahamas.

Then savor the fact that what you see has been produced right here in The Bahamas.

"We hand print the product," says Linda Brown, who co-owns the business with sister-in-law Joie Lamare. "It's cut and sewn right in this building. We're a part of everything."

The sisters-in-law would mill the fabric if they could.

"Yeah, we don't grow the cotton," laughs Lamare, who adds that some people may point out this fact in tongue-in-cheek refutations of how Bahamian the product is. "We're doing as much as we possibly can," she says of production in the approximately 4,000 square foot factory built onto the boutique.

Brown and Lamare purchased the 41-year-old business in 2001, inheriting a faithful clientele and a reputation that lived up to the customer's expectations for decades. Bahama Hand Prints is the brainchild of artists Helen Astarita and Berta Sands. The women imported the hand print process from a small company in Key West where they observed the work being done during a visit. They placed their designs on the silk screens that are used to make the prints on the fabrics.

Three years after purchasing Bahama Hand Prints, Brown and Lamare moved the company near the site where its roots were planted in 1966. They moved from the industrial park to the Island Traders Building on Ernest Street, just around the corner from the old Mackey Street location. "We moved back into the old neighborhood," says Lamare.

The company now has over 75 silk printing screens all with different original designs, many by local artists and the original owners. Brown and Lamare, who have a staff of more than nine people who manage production, print the fabric by hand and sew the garments, continue to use the vintage prints, but introduce new designs for each year's collection.

They are preparing for the 2008 collection, a blush of bold and demure colors printed in the seashell and aloe designs of Joanne McCrum, and slated to surface during October and November of this year.

"I think the artwork is the key to everything," says Brown. "That's the heartbeat of the company, and it's all Bahamian. It's all based on the flora and fauna of The Bahamas."

"Some of it's a little more abstract ... but it's all anything that you look around and inspires you, and that's what's keeping it really traditional," says Lamare. "We're not drawing mountains and volcanos, things that don't exist here."

Production is still a labor-intensive and manual job as it was in the early days of the company. The colors are mixed and the fabric is printed by hand in the factory on 90 foot-long tables. The printed fabric is left to air dry for 24 hours then dried in a 350 degree dryer as the ink cures, making the fabric washable.

"I love it," says printer Dylan Rapillard of the work. "I'm an artist. I love color. I love printing. I'm also making a print."

Prints are also made at the factory in an on-site dark room. Rapillard is working on a private screen, another aspect of Bahama Hand Prints' business. The company makes screens that can be printed exclusively for their owners.

Bahama Hand Prints has tentacles in various markets. The company wholesales its products around the island and to boutiques in Abaco, Long Island and Harbor Island. Brown and Lamare also work with local and American interior designers, and have a young online store where customers can purchase products at www.bahamashandprints.com.

The company also does custom design, and has been commissioned to print tableware for parties. "People can come in and we can actually print on whatever color they desire on whatever ground fabric," says Brown. "So they can do draperies, upholstery, table cloths, linens. It's very versatile in that way."

Brown and Lamare want to stay true to form in the business, keeping it relatively small as it employs locals and contributes to the economy. They're not threatened by cheap imports that flood the market, even as they fight the wave of rising production costs. "We just do what we do and we produce a very fine product," says Lamare.

"We compete because we can prove it's all done right here," says Brown.

Bahama Hand Prints online store prices

Clothing: $49 - $199 (pants, tops, skirts)

Household furnishings: $29 - $89 (napkins, place mats, aprons, pillow shams, pot holders)

Accessories: $59 - $139 (hand bags, wallets, cosmetic cases)

Fabrics: $29 - $49 per yard