MAKERS
Nunua Partner Network · Active Vendors

The Artisans
Behind Every
Piece Six studios. Four countries. One shared standard of extraordinary craft.

Every vendor on Nunua is individually vetted, personally onboarded, and committed to handmade production and fair labor practices. These are their shops — and the people behind them.

6
Active Vendors
4
Countries
100%
Handmade
Fair
Wages Verified
All Vendors
Kenya Ghana Tanzania
Jewelry Leather Textiles
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Showing 6 of 6 active vendor partners
All vendors accepting orders
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Vendor 01 of 06
Jewelry · Beadwork
Karibu Craft Co.
📍 Mombasa, Kenya
Karibu Craft Co. is a women-led cooperative of fourteen beaders based in the Mishomoroni neighborhood of Mombasa. Founded in 2011 by Amina Hassan and her sister Fatuma, the cooperative was built on a principle as simple as it was radical: that exceptional craft deserves exceptional compensation.

The beadwork they produce draws from Maasai tradition but evolves it — using trade beads sourced from generations-old suppliers in Mombasa's old town, strung in patterns that encode stories rather than simply decorate. Each piece takes between one and four days to make.

"We are not making jewelry. We are making records. Every pattern I thread holds something — a blessing, a name, a moment. The bead remembers what the tongue forgets."

Amina Hassan, Co-founder · Karibu Craft Co.
Specialties
Maasai Beadwork Hand-Strung Ocean Trade Beads Women-Led Community Cooperative
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Karibu Craft Co. — Available on Nunua 2 products
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Jewelry
Maasai Beaded Choker
Traditional glass beads · Hand-strung · Mombasa
$55
★★★★★ (47)
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Jewelry
Coral & Turquoise Collar
Ocean trade beads · Leather-backed · Mombasa
$85
★★★★★ (23)
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Karibu Craft Co. products ship directly from Mombasa. Allow 1–2 weeks for standard orders. All pieces are made to order and ship with an artisan card naming the cooperative member who strung your piece.
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Vendor 02 of 06
Leather · Bags
Pangea Leather Works
📍 Kiambu Road, Nairobi, Kenya
James Kamau is the third generation of his family to work leather on Kiambu Road. His grandfather made saddles for colonial-era farms. His father made shoes. James makes what he calls "narrative leather" — pieces tooled with botanical and geometric patterns derived from East African native flora, each design unique to each customer.

Pangea's workshop employs five full-time craftspeople and two apprentices, all paid above local market rate. Their full-grain hides are sourced from a single supplier in Nakuru who James has visited personally every year for a decade.

"Leather remembers. Every scratch, every fold, every mark it picks up becomes part of its story. I don't make things to look new forever. I make things to age with you."

James Kamau, Founder · Pangea Leather Works
Specialties
Hand-Tooled Leather Botanical Burn Patterns Full-Grain Hides Third-Generation Heritage Craft
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Pangea Leather Works — Available on Nunua 2 products
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Bags
Savanna Crossbody Bag
Hand-tooled leather · Botanical burn · Nairobi
$145$118
★★★★★ (33)
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New
Ndovu Tote Bag
Full-grain cowhide · Hand-stitched · Nairobi
$165
★★★★★ (12)
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Pangea Leather Works pieces are made to order and typically take 10–14 business days to produce. Each bag ships with a handwritten note from James and a care card with conditioning instructions. Natural patina develops beautifully with use.
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Vendor 03 of 06
Weaving · Kente
Weave & Way
📍 Accra, Ghana
Kofi Mensah and his wife Abena started Weave & Way in 2017 with two looms and a decision: to make kente contemporary without abandoning what makes it sacred. Based in a workshop behind their home in Accra's Adabraka neighborhood, they work with a team of six — four of whom are enrolled in their apprenticeship program, learning traditional Ashanti weaving technique.

Weave & Way's kente is woven on hand-operated looms in the traditional strip format, then assembled into finished pieces — belts, headwraps, and fabric panels. The color combinations in each piece encode symbolic meaning from the Akan tradition.

"Kente is not decoration. Every color is a word. When you wear it, you are speaking — even if you don't yet know what you are saying. Learning that language is a lifetime's work."

Kofi Mensah, Co-founder · Weave & Way
Specialties
Kente Weaving Hand-Operated Loom Ashanti Tradition Apprenticeship Program Symbolic Color
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Weave & Way — Available on Nunua 2 products
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Belt
Kente Woven Belt
Handwoven kente cloth · Leather backing · Accra
$48
★★★★☆ (19)
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Limited
Kente Silk Headwrap
Silk-cotton blend · Traditional loom · Accra
$58
★★★★★ (31)
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Weave & Way ships from Accra. Standard delivery to the US takes 8–12 days. Their limited headwrap editions are produced in runs of 20 and once sold out, that specific color combination is retired — each run is photographed and documented as a permanent record of the pattern.
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Vendor 04 of 06
Silver · Metalwork
Mkono Jewelry
📍 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Mkono — Swahili for "hand" — is the one-person studio of silversmith Zawadi Kirabo. Working from a small studio in Kariakoo, Dar es Salaam's historic market district, Zawadi produces silver jewelry entirely from recycled and ethically sourced metal, using techniques she learned over seven years of apprenticeship under a master silversmith in Zanzibar.

Her specialty is the oxidized finish — a controlled tarnishing process that gives silver its characteristic deep grey-black surface, revealing the hammered texture beneath. No two pieces develop exactly the same patina.

"People always want to keep silver bright. But I love it darkening. That's not decay — that's history. That's your life going into the metal."

Zawadi Kirabo, Silversmith · Mkono Jewelry
Specialties
Silversmithing Oxidized Finish Recycled Silver Hand-Hammered Solo Artisan
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Mkono Jewelry — Available on Nunua 1 product
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Silver
Oxidized Silver Bangles
Set of 3 · Ethically recycled silver · Hand-hammered · Dar es Salaam
$72
★★★★★ (28)
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Studio Note

Zawadi works alone and produces a limited number of sets each month. If the bangles show as sold out, email us at [email protected] to join the waiting list. Restock typically takes 3–4 weeks.

Mkono Jewelry pieces ship from Dar es Salaam in a hand-stamped kraft box with Zawadi's signature. Allow 2–3 weeks for production. Each bangle set is individually photographed before shipping so you receive documentation of your exact piece.
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Vendor 05 of 06
Textiles · Print
Leso Living
📍 Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania
The leso — also called kanga — is one of East Africa's most culturally loaded objects. A rectangle of printed cotton worn as wrap, headscarf, baby carrier, and message board, it has carried proverbs and declarations for over 150 years along the Swahili coast. Leso Living is a workshop of eight women in Stone Town's historic quarter preserving and evolving the hand-block printing process that gave early leso their distinctive character.

Founder Mwajuma Said learned block printing from her grandmother, who learned it from hers. The workshop uses zinc-carved blocks and natural coastal dyes — indigo, turmeric, coral — to produce prints that cannot be replicated by factory process.

"Every leso carries a saying. Ours say: this was made by hand, in Zanzibar, by women who know what they're doing. Some messages need no translation."

Mwajuma Said, Founder · Leso Living
Specialties
Hand-Block Printing Swahili Tradition Natural Coastal Dyes Women's Cooperative Heritage Preservation
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Leso Living — Available on Nunua 1 product
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New
Hand-Printed Leso Wrap
100% cotton · Traditional Swahili block print · Natural dyes · Zanzibar
$42
★★★★★ (56)
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About Leso Printing

Each leso is hand-block printed and will vary slightly in color saturation and pattern alignment from the photograph — this is the character of the craft, not a defect. The proverb printed on the border of your piece will be included in a translation card with your order.

Leso Living ships from Zanzibar. Every piece is individually printed to order — allow 1–2 weeks. Natural dyes will soften slightly with the first wash; this is by design and considered beautiful. See the Care Guide for kanga care instructions.
Shop Leso Living on Nunua →
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Vendor 06 of 06
Brass · Copper
Adorn Nairobi
📍 Nairobi, Kenya
Adorn Nairobi is the studio of Grace Wanjiku, a metalsmith who made her first piece of jewelry at age twelve from discarded copper wire found behind her school in Kangemi. Today she works from a studio in Westlands, Nairobi, with a mission as specific as it is unusual: all metal used in her work is recycled — copper from electrical scrap, brass from salvaged hardware, occasionally silver from broken jewelry left at repair shops.

Grace's process centers on hammered texture — she uses a set of specialized punches to create surface patterns that no casting or pressing can replicate. Each piece is individual. Every mark is intentional.

"Scrap metal has a past. I don't melt that away — I work with it, let it be part of what the piece becomes. Recycled doesn't mean lesser. It means longer history."

Grace Wanjiku, Founder · Adorn Nairobi
Specialties
Recycled Brass Scrap Copper Hand-Hammered Hammered Texture Fair Trade Certified
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Adorn Nairobi — Available on Nunua 2 products
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Jewelry
Recycled Copper Earrings
Hand-formed copper · Fair trade certified · Nairobi
$38
★★★★☆ (41)
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Accessories
Hammered Brass Cuff
Recycled brass · Hand-textured · Nairobi
$45
★★★★☆ (19)
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Adorn Nairobi products ship from Nairobi with a 7–10 day lead time. Grace includes a brief note about the specific scrap source of the metal in each piece — where it came from before it became jewelry. Brass and copper will develop a natural patina; polish with a soft cloth or leave it to age.
Shop Adorn on Nunua →
The Nunua Partner Network

Made Across
East & West Africa

🇰🇪
Kenya
3 active vendor partners
Karibu Craft · Mombasa Pangea Leather · Nairobi Adorn Nairobi · Nairobi
🇹🇿
Tanzania
2 active vendor partners
Mkono Jewelry · Dar es Salaam Leso Living · Zanzibar
🇬🇭
Ghana
1 active vendor partner
Weave & Way · Accra
Become a Nunua Vendor

Your craft belongs here.

We're actively growing the Nunua vendor network. If you make extraordinary things by hand in Africa — or if your craft is rooted in African tradition — we want to hear from you. Fair revenue split, full marketing support, a US market audience, and genuine partnership.

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