Artists - Jewellery

Sue Chadwick

silver

Sue Chadwick began designing and making silver jewellery in her native Zimbabwe and when she arrived in UK in 1997, she began by showing her work at Janet Fitch, Soho. In 1998, she registered with the Guildhall in London who hold her personal hallmark and currently mark her pieces. Her work is made from either sterling silver (925) or pure silver (999) and is totally original in its design. Eminently fashionable, television news readers can often be seen sporting Sue Chadwick’s jewellery.

Ethnicks

beads

Ethnicks was started in 1993 by Nicky Hughes in Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal and is now run by her parents. Two Zulu women approached Nicky in need of an outlet to sell their beadwork. As a result of this encounter, she designed and developed a range of beadwork with them which now provides a regular source of income for approximately 200 women. These women live in the rural area of The Valley of 1000 Hills and the majority are illiterate. They travel for nearly three hours, by foot, bus and taxi, to get from their homes to the premises where they work. They are often the sole providers for their children as well as numerous unemployed family members.

Kazuri

ceramic

Kazuri beads (meaning “small and beautiful” in Swahili are individually handmade by the team of 300 women employed in Kenya. Founded by the late Lady Susan Wood in 1975 to provide employment for struggling single mothers, Kazuri beads are still created on part of Karen Blixen’s original farm at the foot of the Ngong Hills. They are kiln fired once, painted and glazed, and then fired for a second time before being strung. New ranges are brought out every season in appropriate and exciting new colourways.

Mambu

ostrich shell

Mother of four, Francoise is the creative genius behind Mambu, designing and making this exquisite range of unusual jewellery primarily from ostrich shell. An abundant resource close to her home in Johannesburg, ostrich shell is attractive and hard wearing , as well as distinctively African, making it an ideal material from which to create ethnic jewellery.

Tintsaba

sisal & silver

Since 1985, Tintsaba Crafts under Sheila Freemantle, has run a rural development project in the Northern Hhohho region of Swaziland. The project works with women’s groups producing and marketing quality crafts. The project is an outstanding success, with some 600 women now producing a wide range of traditional and innovative crafts , including tableware, functional baskets, collectors’ baskets, trays, natural jewellery and woven sisal disks for Tintsaba’s jewellery with the finest quality weaving in sisal in Africa. In 1999, Tintsaba established the Silver Jewellery workshop, with the objective of combining their best woven sisal disks with sterling silver. The result is striking, original jewellery, combining Western quality and excellence with African craft and design.

Uniqueco

recycled rubber flip-flops

Believing that the worlds’ waste is everyone’s problem, Uniqueco launched a highly unusual project in Kenya. Sub-titled “flip-flop iwas”, the group employs local Kenyan residents to collect up the thousands of discarded flip-flops which are washed up on the East African shoreline every year. They then shred the rubber and recycle it into highly colourful and decorative jewellery designed by local crafts people. It is a brilliant project providing sustainable employment for local labour as well as cleaning up the environment.

Yakanaka

assorted beads

Yakanaka is the brainchild of Celeste Maxwell who lives in Zimbabwe. She, plus a team of women design and hand-make original jewellery. They use a variety of beads;- glass, ceramic, wood, brass, nickel, silver, porcelain and clay, but never plastic.  Beads are sourced from all over the world, but the finished product is designed and made in Harare. Celeste’s daughter Lucy and daughter-in-law Kate market the Yakanaka products. The family is committed to the development and success of this project which gives much needed employment and financial means to many Zimbabweans.