Below is the transcription of a Youtube video I enjoyed which talked about African Kazuri beads in Kenya, and how the industry is doing there. The link to the original video is at the bottom of the post. Enjoy!

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If there is one thing that women love, it is to be different, to stand out, and to have accessories that place them at the center of attraction. In recent years, the bulk of women’s accessories in Kenya have been beaded necklaces, of all shapes and sizes, colors and designs.

“Kenyans are very fashion conscious, as we know. So whatever is happening in Paris or in New York, they want to be part of it.  We are seeing a trend in certain colors and if you look around, you will see contemporary women wearing those. You’ll see a trend towards layering; layering of clothes, different layers, and that’s also reflected in jewelry, and you’ll see women wearing layered clothes, lots of long chains and jewelry. You see that as well, Kenyan’s wearing that. Big earrings, there’s a trend in that. So yeah, people are very switched on.”

Monda African art shop has grown to backup this fashion craze. Carol, our creative director and a trained designer, knows what fashions become more demanding, and consumers become more demanding and sophisticated by the day.

“I got a scholarship to go to Ghana, to study beads, or to study African art, and while I was there they had a lot of heritage of beadwork: they make beads, they wear beads, so that’s where my interest was peaked.”

Silver, gold, and diamonds may still rule the world, but these humble ethnic tastes are timeless, and carry with them, an African story, a target market, and their culture. And designers are making a living out of it.

Dr. Piety Goes (Kazuri Bead Factory): “We saw that Africa is becoming popular, more popular over the past two decades. The change from the old, traditional gold and silver jewelry to new, innovative, new styles jewelry made by some of the brand names in the world. We at Kazuri believe that we are a brand to reckon with.

Kazuri, which means small and beautiful in Swahili, began in 1979 as a tiny rock shop doing handmade beads. Now, it has become a thriving industry that makes the lives of about 300 women. The motto behind this factory was to create employment for single mothers who were in need for regular employment.

Dr. Piety Goes: “At Kazuri here, we actually look at, on improving on the lifestyles of our women. Our mission is actually to employ single mothers of single parenthood who have no income. At the moment we have about 300+ and you can only improve from there. We started with some two people 35 years ago. We are now 300+ as I said earlier, and we can only improve from there. And yes, we can make a difference in the economy but other stakeholders in other industries also need to play their parts to make the economy vibrant.”

Like it is in several small-scale businesses in Africa, the artistic skills are here to fully transform the craftsmen’s lives due to the informal structure of the market as well as exploitation by middle-men.

Roselyne Egosangwa (Ecosandals Limited): “What we do is just deal with our customers direct, because middlemen always exploit the market.”

With this, and the fact that markets abroad offer better returns, companies like Ecosandals, a Kenyan company, have moved online to get in the international market with their leather sandals.

Roselyne Egosangwa: “The present world is a digital world. That is why we decided to go online cause that’s the only way you can reach the far-end market, like the Western and global.”

The beading industry in Kenya has employed women, especially those from the areas with less privilege. It is a craft that doesn’t require skills.

Female Kenyan beading craftswomen: “I have worked here for a long time, managed to take my children to school, as well as buy a piece of land.”

Like any other business, challenges are there in this industry. From high taxation, competition, and even counterfeits.

Carol Monda (Monda African Art Shop): “One would be high tax on imported beads cause for example, the pound beads or what you call Masai beads are imported from Czechoslavakia or from the Czech Republic as well as from India. There’s taxes on that. Leather is taxed, because it’s bead on leather.”

Dr. Piety Goes: “To begin with, the jewelry that’s imported would cost 20% of the products that we sell ourselves. We still need to be competitive. We need to be creative with our colors and designs to be better than the imitation jewelry.”

Treasured by the communities and adored through the years, the bead as an everyday adornment is threatened. All the players hope that the beading culture be kept alive, as it is not only a business venture, but a story of a rich culture that may be threatened by modernization.

Watch the Video

People often ask me, “What are the most colorful African beads?” The answer is simple: Mali Wedding Beads. In one strand of these beautiful African wedding beads, you will find beads varying in up to 40 different colors, shapes, and designs.

These handmade beads are said to be given to brides on their wedding days. Most were originally Czech-made, and traded in Africa. They can be up to 100 years old, but are often newer.

Mali Wedding beads make great for beading projects on a tight budget. Although one strand can run between $50 and $100, the diversity that runs in these beads will give you plenty or room to work with. My friend, Suzie, made 16 unique items out of just one strand of these spectacular beads!

These beads most commonly come in a light bulb shape, but also come in tear-drop shape, triangle shape, and others. What have you made using Mali wedding beads? Email me photos of your creations using Mali Wedding beads, and I’ll post them up here with a link to your Etsy store or website!

Friends often ask me why I am so obsessed with African beads. I use them to make all sorts of jewelry, and sometimes just wear them as is. So I figured I’d blog about the top 10 reasons why I invest so much of my time and money in African beads.

1. African beads carry a rich history.
   Many of these beads, including trade beads, have traveled up to 4 continents and can be up to 300 years old.
2. By purchasing African beads, you are supporting working class people in Africa.
   Sure, African beads may be a tad more expensive than Indian or Chinese beads…okay, I lied..they tend to be much more pricey…but when you buy African beads, you are helping to support independent craftsmen in villages all over Africa…so feel good about buying them! You’re helping to put food on people’s tables.
3. African beads are often environmentally friendly.
   For example, Powder Glass Beads are made by crushing used Coca-Cola glass bottles, and re-using the glass to make all sorts of beautiful beads. They are also known as Recycled Glass Beads.
4. African Beads are handmade and unique.
   No two beads come the same, and love is put into every bead that is made. It’s a different feeling when you wear a necklace with beads on it that were made with the human hand, as opposed to a machine in some factory. You feel the love
5. African beads don’t lose value.
   It’s quite amazing actually, but African beads don’t really ever lose value. I’ve been collecting for decades, and every bead I’ve bought has really been an investment. When I used to purchase Trade Beads in the 70′s, they were about 1/3 the price of what they run for today.
   
6. Many African bead stores donate a portion of each sale to Charity.
   It’s true. The African bead market is one you want to be a part of. The Bead Chest, who have an amazing selection of Ethiopian beads, donate a portion of every sale to help Darfur refugees. Kwaze-Kwasa donates 100% of all net profits to help AIDs orphans in Sub Saharan Africa.
7. They’re just plain cool!

So there you, my top 7 reasons why I buy African beads. If you haven’t started playing with these fun little beads, start now and I promise you won’t regret it.

We often receive the question, what exactly are krobo beads? We hear the term oh so often, yet it can sometimes be difficult to find adequate information as to what these beads are on Google or other search engines.

Krobo is a district in Ghana, Africa. So to put it simple, Krobo beads are beads made by the craftsmen and craftswomen of Krobo Often referred to as powder glass beads, these beads are used by natives for all sorts of ritual including birth, marriage, and death.

These amazing handmade beads are typically made in upright molds, which are formed from Ghana clay. Inside the molds, there are slots, each of which hold a single bead. Craftsmen and women fill the molds with a very fine ground glass in different layers to form certain patterns with the colors. The molds are fired up in kilns (also made with locally dug clay).

Krobo beads come in thousands of different colors, shapes, and designs. Because they are handmade in literally hundreds of different locations, it is rare that you will find two strands of Krobo beads alike.

If you are looking to purchase Krobo beads, or would like more information on how they are made, checkout The Bead Chest. They have a beautiful selection, and a more detailed description on how these handmade beads are created by the Krobo craftsmen and craftswomen.