A handcrafted tapestry depicting the Cayman Islands coat of arms has been stolen from Casa 43 restaurant, and owner Max Hillier is appealing for its return with no questions asked.
Describing the tapestry as “priceless”, Hillier said he was upset when he found out it had been swiped from the West Bay Road restaurant.
“For us it is a really special artefact… especially a Caymanian artefact. We can never replace it. It’s not like we can go and get another Day of the Dead painting or another Mexican mirror. It’s a one-of-a-kind piece,” Hillier told the Cayman Compass in a telephone interview Tuesday morning.
He said he had the tapestry since early 2007, and it has been in the restaurant since it opened in 2015.
In the restaurant business, he added, it was expected that glasses would be stolen or even specialty items like the Day of the Dead salt-and-pepper shakers used in Casa 43, but he did not expect a piece of art to be taken.
Mystery disappearance
Hillier said he had just returned from a three-week break and went into the restaurant on Monday only to be greeted with the empty wall where the tapestry had hung for the last seven years.
“As I walked through the swinging doors, I’m like, ‘Wait a minute… What the hell? What’s going on?’ So I started asking around [and] everyone’s like, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know’. This is not cool,” he said.
He originally found the tapestry rolled up in a corner at Grand View Condos where he was working at the time in 2007 and thought the piece was “incredible”.
He said no one knew who made it, but he loved it and took it home as it held special significance for him.
“I was very fortunate to be granted Caymanian status just before then. I was like ‘You know what, I’m so proud I’m keeping this.’ I had it my home for a while and we had it up in the office at the Grand View and when I moved on I took it with me. When I opened the restaurant I said there’s no better place to support my love of Cayman than to add this beautiful piece of art into our little Cayman Mexican restaurant,” he said.
Talking point
The tapestry has always been a talking point and people are amazed by it, Hillier noted.
“It’s just been such a great piece and a great conversation point,” he said, which is why it bothers him that someone would just take it.
He said it was not the first incident with the tapestry, though.
“About five years ago… somebody had taken a Sharpie and signed the bottom of it. I don’t know why they did that, but we were very upset,” he said, adding it was similar to inheriting a piece of Caymanian heritage like a turtle shell.
He said the corridor where the tapestry was hung was out of range of the restaurant’s CCTV camera, so he could not see who took it, but is hoping his plea will move the person to return it.
“We understand that people get caught up in the moment. I totally get that. We’ve all been young, we’ve all got excited about something we’ve seen or something we’d like to have as well. We’re not interested in pressing charges or getting anyone into trouble or pointing fingers. In fact, if the person brought it back we would have a margarita with them and say we understand… thanks very much, we appreciate it,” Hillier said.
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