Textiles, although always imported, bear a particular stamp of authenticity for the reason that they’re worn in your area making good-value, and practical, souvenirs. The printed women’s systems -kanga-in cotton, and
heavier- weave men’s sarongs – kikoi- work great buys on coast, and older ones represent collectable products worth searching for. Kangas will always be offered in pairs and therefore are printed with intriguing Swahili
proverbs. Local tailors can make them into clothes for you personally at very affordable prices.
Shoes may also be great value. The common Bata chain has bargains, but you will get a lot more interesting sandals from tourist stalls, including pretty handmade leather sandals, and also the
much harder and much more local sandals produced from thrown away vehicle tyres -”five-1000-mile footwear”.
Music and musical instruments
Other good buys include music Compact disks (though attempt to listen before purchasing), and musical instruments- for instance nyati, a luo lyre- although it’s very difficult to get quality instruments instead of souvenir
facsimiles. Drums could be bulky and many people even purchase them for tables, but look into the skins happen to be correctly healed. Individuals made to take place one arm, more prevalent around the coast, would be the
most practical as souvenirs. Lamu features its own wind instrument known as a siwa, an enormous side- blown factor typically produced from an elephant tusk, but nowadays fashioned from hardwood.
Shop comes with an excellent and incredibly reasonably listed range, including single bits of fabric or kikois and kangas. The standard masks you will see everywhere are imported-only a number of Kenyan tribes
make masks, the Kikuyu being the very best known, which are exceedingly rare.
Community craft centres
Nairobi has numerous craft shops with charitable status, or connected with development or self-help projects. Although a little costly-and negotiating is not possible-they frequently have
unusual and well-made stock, most of which finds its distance to the Christmas charitable organisation catalogues overseas. A couple of are some distance on vacation, but really worth making special journeys to go to, and they are
good tonics if you are struggling with curio shop fatigue.
Amani ya Juu Riverside Drive. The project utilizes fifty women who’ve been marginalized by poverty and war. It is good for gifts-the boutique sells colourful hand crafted clothes and bags. Matatu#48.
Mon-Fri9am-5pm
Bega Kwa Bega Korogocho projects. Federation of small handcrafts producers in the Korogocho slums of eastern Nairobi, offering sisal bags, bracelets, batiks, furniture and cloth puppets. Have a taxi.
Craft banda Sarit Center, Westlands. Hassle-free browsing and fair prices. Buses #25, #29, #30 and many more.
Kamili Designs Langat Rd, Karen. This textile workshop sells in your area designed, hands printed materials. The designs are usually bold and colourful, available both through the metre so that as cushions, bed linen,
and so on. Buses/matatus #24, #111 or #126. Mon-Fri9am-5pm.
Kazuri Beads & pottery Center Mbagathi Ridge, Karen. Kazuri, meaning “small beautiful”, utilizes nearly 100 formerly destitute women, who make an remarkable number of hand crafted,
mostly ceramic, jewelry and beads. You can view the entire process from shaping and colouring to firing, and gleam pottery showroom. It’s costly, however the stuff is lovely. They likewise have
retail outdoors at Village Market in Gigiri and also the Junction Shopping Center, Ngong Rd. buses/matatus #24, #111 or #126. Training courses Mon-Comes to an end 8am-4.30pm, Sitting 8am-1pm shop Mon-Sitting 8am-5pm, Sun
riverside furniture
Kitengela Glass from the Magadi road, south of Nairiobi National Park. Inspiring community of glass-blowers and crafts-folks a photogenic creative village. Site visitors are welcome and you will observe,
browse and purchase unhassled. You will need your personal transport to obtain here. It can make for any good extra visit if you are in the Giraffe Center or going to Daphne Sheldrick’s elephant orphans.
Maridad Materials City Stadium roundabout, Landhies/Jogoo Rd, 2km east from the stop. Chapel-based Maridadi was produced in 1966 being an earnings-producing community work for women in a single of
Nairobi’s earliest slum areas-Pumwani and Shauri Moyo. The primary workshop is really a delight if you are into making your personal clothes. A sizable screen-printing workshop (on view in the visitors’ gallery)
produces the number of prints available within the shop. Especially appealing would be the bark cloth prints African peoples before the finish from the nineteenth century. Buses #46 or #34. Mon-Comes to an end 8am-5pm
Mikono Craft Shop Opposite Ratna Fitness Studio, Gitanga Rd, Kawangware, just north of Dagoretti Corner. The opening from the Jesuit Refugee Service, with well- made work (especially beautiful patchwork
textiles) from refugees, and superb Mozambican designs and carvings. Bus #46 or #46B.
Spinner’s Web second floor, Viking House, Waiyaki Way, Westlands. A sizable shop selling lots of nutrients-crafts, textiles, woollen goods and jewelry, a lot of it produced by self-help groups and people,
including Meru’s Makena Textile Workshop. Bus/matatu-any to Westlands.
Undugu upstairs in the Mall Westlands. Using its roots within the chapel, Undugu (“fraternity”)os probably the most energetic society available in the united states and organizes regular led visits for their slum projects.
The store sells a great choice of well-listed, high-quality crafts with more unusual products, for example Ethiopian jewelry, basketwork, and crafts from DRC, Tanzania and Uganda. You might have the ability to
discount riverside furniture
have alook round the training courses. Bus/matatu- any to Westlands. Mon-Fri9am-6pm, Sitting 9am-55.30pm.
Utamaduni Crafts Center Bogoni East Rd, Langata. 18 individual craft shops in a single large house, opined by Richard Leakey in 1991 (a area of the profits visit the Kenya Wildlife Service). It’s
everything you may want, a lot of it made on-site or from street-kid projects quality and process are high. The attached Verandah restaurant is great. Bus/matatu #24. Daily 9.30am-6pm.
Woodley Weavers Chaka Rd, Hurlingham. Recognized to many because the “rug gallery”, this place has a number of area rugs produced by local women, frequently single moms in the Kibera slum, using local made of woll, cotton
and plant dyes. Any bus or matatus to Ngong Rd.
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