Kenya Kasuals
The Story behind Kazuri Bead Jewelry
Near the east coast of central Africa, just thirty minutes outside of Nairobi, Kenya,
a Fair Trade bead making cooperative is providing over three hundred
African women artisans the opportunity to support themselves and their
extended families through their craftsmanship. The exquisite beads
they make – each one a miniature work of art – are now available
in the USA. Sandy Schenkat designs and makes handcrafted
Kazuri bead jewelry.
If you have seen the movie “Out of Africa”, you will remember the sweeping vistas from Isak Dinesen’s coffee plantation. On this land sits the workshop, which had its beginnings thirty years ago, when Lady Susan Wood and two Kenyan women of the Kikuyu Tribe made the first Kazuri beads. “Kazuri” in Swahili means “small and beautiful.”
As with much of Africa, Kenya is plagued with high unemployment
and few available social services. The Kazuri Co-op is a member
of the 
Fair Trade Federation who ensures
fair wages and good working conditions for
these disadvantaged women. Making the
beads is a laborious process. First, clay is
trucked many miles to the project site
from the base of Mt. Kenya. There, it
is placed in a water-extractor to ready
it for the multi-step bead making process.
When the raw clay is ready, each bead is shaped
individually and a stick is used to make the hole. No molds,
forms, conveyor belts, or modern machinery are used. The
beads (called “greenware” at this stage) dry, and are then
fired, making “bisque beads,” which are painted with up to
five different colors of glaze on a single bead. Again, the beads are 
fired in an
electric kiln. This traditional process, endemic to the Kikuyu tribe, yields beads
that are silky-smooth, ultra-shiny, colorful, and beautifully decorated.
Meryl Streep has been photographed wearing necklaces of Kazuri beads. “Bringing the Kazuri beads to the U.S. is an important project, and such a good cause,” Ms. Schenkat says. Her unique contemporary jewelry is described as wearable art. Buyers and collectors support Worldwide Fair Trade practices and the Kazuri Women’s Project.
For more information contact: Sandy Schenkat
Phone 480-268-9200 or email: jewelry@hbci.com
Jewelry from Kenya Kasuals collection is available through:
Xanadu Gallery (www.xanadugallery.com)
7039 E. Main Street
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
480-368-9929
866-483-1306
