Simon Gadjadhar

Simon Gadjadhar, or Zaka, as he is better known, is an artist who produces masks whose exotic carved designs and vivid painted colour schemes make for unique and beautiful Caribbean wall art.

Zaka Masks, located near the west coast town of Soufriere, produces a great array of sizes, colours and designs that are seen in many hotels, restaurants and galleries island wide.

Zaka was born and raised in London where he completed a program in boat building. He then decided to visit Saint Lucia, where his father is from, and soon was managing the woodshop at the Rodney Bay Marina’s boatyard.

As an aside he began expressing his artistic talents by carving wooden heads but soon found there was no interest in the heavy and cumbersome pieces from tourists.

Not deterred, Zaka then split the face off, painted it and rigged a wall hanging system on the back and quickly found he had a winner.

Zaka uses a variety of local hardwoods that are always sourced by environmentally friendly means. Each mask is designed, crafted and signed by Zaka to insure authenticity.