Home utility, Turkana Basketry Products of Various designs
Vesse Pot
Tulip Pot
Square Pot
Plate Pot
Box Pot
African ladies Bags/ Purse of Various Design
Home, hotel and Restaurant utility - African Basketry Products - Fruits/ bread laundry table mats of Various designs.
Soapstones URN Products of various designs
Coloured soapstones Products
Natural Soapstones Products
Soapstone Elephants Products of Various Designs
Soapstone Sculpture Products of Various Designs
The hats are a fitting outfit for ladies going out for all kinds of functions/occasions or parties. Price : Big Hat : USD $40 Medium Hat : USD $30 Small Hat : USD $25
Dolls and Toys making using locally available recycled materials is increasingly gaining popularity as an income generating activity particularly with the slum women dwellers. There are many other individual women artisans with similar skills who are already involved in making dolls as a source of income. For a majority of these women, it is a means towards self-reliance. All the toy and doll makers operate from their respective home environment. The women group is comprised of single as well married mothers, who supplement their socio-economic basic needs through making of dolls and toys. There are other women groups in the rural areas of Central province who specialize in traditional doll making using raw materials like maize husks, wood and pieces of rags. Other materials used include "clothes left over". These are bought from various tailor shops. Such wrap up materials are used in making the innovative and ingenious wire bicycle like among others, the riding man or ingeniously made flapping/flying birds. As for the women dolls, materials used are tree bark, beads, and sisal materials. What makes some of the dolls to be more traditional in appearance is that they are dressed with traditional costume or attire. So are the ornamental items. The popular traditional dolls are Turkana "mama", Giriama Dancer, Kikuyu dancer, Maasai warrior, Miss Maasai, Coast lady in their Muslim veil, the mama na mtoto (mother and child), jambo/hello boy and safari dolls such as Zebra, Monkey and Giraffe dolls. The materials used to make most of these dolls and toys are sourced locally. The creativity and enterprising zeal and imaginations of dolls and toys producers extend beyond the Kenyan boarders in that these producers have been able to come up with dolls wearing other African countries' national attire. These dolls are the Ugandan lady, Nigerian lady, Sudan beauty queen including Christmas nativity products. The workmanship on the African dolls is of high quality. However, the ware bicycles and flying like bird are quite an innovative piece of work that arouses curiosity among children particularly boys while girls show interest in other type of african dolls and wire toys.
Soapstone Sculpture
Handicrafts
FOB Price - USD 50 Key Specifications - these are unique and rare
Nubian Utility and Deco Basketry Products
The production of wood carving in Kenya is associated with the Akamba ethnic community of the arid and semi-arid eastern region of Kenya. The art of woodcarving dates back to 450 years ago. In other words, it is a perfected skill, which has been passed on from one generation to the next. The young apprentice works among the seasoned master carvers; learning all the techniques of the craft form splitting the timber to carving and hand polishing the finished forms. Many of the artisans specialize in sculpting a series of African forms, including the exotic wide range of wild animals found in Kenya and East Africa. All carvings must meet rigid standards of quality for the export market. While production norms are maintained, no two pieces are ever exactly the same. Traditionally, the women role is to sand paper the finished product as part of quality touch in terms of coming up with high quality products. The art of woodcarving as one would rightly put it is in Akamba people's blood. The carvers age range from 18-65 years. Kenya has over 60,000 highly skilled craftsmen who produce tones of woodcarvings a month. Woodcarving as an income generating activity supports about 350,000 people. The woodcarving production is by nature labor intensive. The craftsmen model each form using simple tools made from animal hide, local wood and spring steel fashioned into adzes and knives. No machinery is used in the process of transferring a tree- truck into hundreds of items both decorative and functional. The woodcarving products are very popular with the tourists visiting Kenya. Kenya's woodcarving items have over the years been exported to almost all parts of the world. The wood carvings products have not only acted as a source of income for a large number of Akamba community but have also been a commodity that has over the years earned Kenya a substantial amount of foreign exchange. This has been realized through the sale of a wide range of decorative and utility products such as the animal figures, traditional people masks, bookends, salad servers and many other items. Some of the wood that the carvers use or cut down have now come to be enlisted as endangered species and for that reason, the government has come up with stringent measure that requires planting of at least two trees for each tree fallen or cut. Besides that, the government has also put tough measures, which require issuance of license before any tree is cut or fallen down. These measures are aimed at avoiding further deforestation in Akamba arid and semi-arid areas and the entire country in general. According to the available research/statistics, the carvers need for wood account to 10% of the national consumption of hard wood.
