Kazuri makes ceramic bead jewellery in Nairobi, using clay sourced from the foothills of Mount Kenya. Founded by Lady Susan Wood in 1975, the business began as a small workshop providing employment for women nearby. Its artisans shape the beads by hand before painting and firing them for use in jewellery sold through the brand's collections.
Best for Handcrafted Kenyan ceramic bead jewellery
Kazuri makes handcrafted jewellery from African clay in Nairobi, and has been doing so for five decades. Each bead is formed and finished by hand, which is why no two pieces carry quite the same colour or weight. The workshop treats that variation as the point rather than as a tolerance to be engineered out.
The Heritage Collection is where the house looks back at itself. It draws on the patterns and colours it describes as its own DNA, taken from the original styles it launched with and remade with the same intent.
Newer work runs alongside it. The Mara Moon Collection pairs traditional African clay jewellery with a modern bohemian turn, setting earthy pastel tones against brighter colour, and a separate collaboration with Yakaa Studio runs to three collections of its own.
The part worth planning around is the Kazuri Bead Bar, a creative space open to visitors in Nairobi. A guided tour comes with a jewellery-making workshop, and all tools and materials are provided, so you leave with something you shaped rather than something you picked off a tray.
Founded in 1985, Spinners Web is a Nairobi showroom drawing on more than 500 Kenyan and sub-Saharan workshops for handmade baskets, jewelry, textiles, woodwork and home decor. Housed in a Scandinavian-influenced building with a garden cafe, the shop is open six days a week at Kitisuru Road.
Best for Crafts, baskets, jewelry, home decor, textiles
The Kikoy Co. makes traditional kikoys, trousers, robes and homeware from 100% combed cotton grown in East Africa, hand-finished by a women's group it has supported since 2003, and sells from a Village Market shop and a workshop at Maramba Tea Estate in Limuru.
Decor Interiors, operating from Nairobi workshops since 2010, makes chairs, sofas, tables, lamps, stools and planters from plant-based sisal fibre sourced from agave grown in rural Kenya. The company sources sisal from over one hundred women across three communities and states it has completed more than four hundred fit-outs since 2010.
Impala Furniture and Fittings sells living room, bedroom, dining and kitchen furniture including solid wood beds such as the Denver Solid Wood Arched Panel Bed and iron shelving, from a display shop in Ngong Town and a main workshop. Prices range from about KSh14,000 for shelves to KSh105,000 for beds.
Best for Solid wood beds and living room furniture
Kupika & Co., founded by Betty and Chloe and made in Nairobi, sells kitchen aprons and accessories such as bistro skirt aprons and oven gloves crafted from 100% cotton kitenge, Kenyan brass and repurposed canvas, priced between $45 and $55. The company also runs online cooking classes.
Kuzi Pottery Studio runs pottery classes from two Nairobi branches, at 80 Kisembe Road in Karen and inside Bao Box on General Mathenge Drive in Westlands, teaching hand-building and wheel-throwing techniques. Co-founder George has worked as a production potter across Kenya for over 20 years, and classes range from KSh1,500 to KSh4,000.
Okapu sells kiondo baskets and woven bags handwoven by women, plus jewelry from upcycled materials, and teaches basket-weaving classes at the gardens of Provisions in Lower Kabete for Ksh2,200 per session. Classes also run in Kisumu, and products are priced Ksh960 to Ksh4,800.
Best for Handwoven kiondo baskets and weaving classes
Tira Studio makes handmade, made-to-order solid mango wood furniture including beds, dining tables and storage units from workshops on Ngong Road, Redhill Road and Mugoiri Road in Maragua, and states it has specialized in bespoke wooden furniture for the last 7 years. It also runs sub-brands Greencuts, Bedzzz Co and Afterlife for offcuts and refurbished pieces.
Workshop Nairobi, at Racecourse on Ngong Road, sells mid-century modern furniture including coffee and dining tables, sofas, armchairs and lighting, made from hardwoods dried and shaped in-house with Kitenge and mud cloth fabric accents. Prices range from KSh3,500 for a chopping board to KSh38,000 for a console table, open Monday-Friday 9:30am-5pm.
The Nairobi Art Centre provides visual art, craft and design education to learners and educators of differing abilities, located on Sri Aurobindo Avenue off Riverside Drive. Its programs and classes aim to unlock creativity regardless of age or skill level.
Kazuri Beads' page explains that its name means "small and beautiful" in Swahili. It says the business began in 1975 as a tiny workshop experimenting with making ceramic beads.
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