AFRICAN KAZURI
Kazuri Beads Jewellery – “Kazuri” is a Swahili word which means “small and beautiful”.
Kazuri Beads, as a business, has an interesting backstory.
THE ORIGINS…
Founded by Lady Susan Wood, who was born in 1918 in a mud hut in a West African village.
Her parents were missionaries from England.
Lady Wood was sent back to England to be educated and married Michael Wood, a surgeon. They came to East Africa in 1947.
Lady Wood was sent back to England to be educated and married Michael Wood, a surgeon. They came to East Africa in 1947.
Both dedicated to making a difference, they finally settled near the Karen Blixen estate, famous from the award winning movie “Out of Africa” at the foot of the Ngon’g Hills, 30 minutes from the bustling Nairobi city centre in Kenya and the spectacular Rift valley.
In 1975 she set up a fledging business making beads in a small shed in her back garden.
She hired two disadvantaged women, and quickly realized there were many more women who needed jobs and so Kazuri Beads was created.
She hired two disadvantaged women, and quickly realized there were many more women who needed jobs and so Kazuri Beads was created.
This workshop, based in a place named Karen, is still in its original location today!
Lady Wood was a visionary and sadly passed away in 2006. She will be missed, but her legacy lives on…