What Kazuri is known for

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.

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.