Wood carving

Wood carving

wood carving

Our wooden ornaments are carved by hand from jacaranda wood in three Fair Trade workshops in Kenya: Kapya's and Benjamin's workshops in Nairobi and Paul's workshop in Machakos. All workshops make painted and natural wooden ornaments. Some ornaments are left in their natural state to highlight the skilful craftsmanship, while others are meticulously painted by hand.

KAPYA'S WORKSOP IN NAIROBI

Kapya Kitungwa is a Congolese refugee artisan who founded his workshop to employ other refugees. Today his workshop has 16 staff members from different backgrounds, who share a love for wood carving. Mifuko collaborates with Kapya and his workshop through MADE51, an initiative created by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to bring refugee-made products to the global market.

Paul's workshop in Machakos

Paul runs a wood carving workshop in Machakos, southeast of Nairobi. His team of 13 carves and paints our ornaments by hand from pruned jacaranda branches, combining traditional carving skills with careful finishing.

Benjamin’s workshop in Rongai

Benjamin runs a wood carving workshop in Rongai, Nairobi. He is a skilled carver with a team of 10, each specialised in a specific stage of the work: shaping, detailing, finishing, sanding and painting. All carvings are made from pruned jacaranda branches from the Iveti Hills in Machakos.

How our wooden ornaments are made

Each ornament is carved from a single piece of wood. When the shape is ready, the ornament is dried and carefully sanded by hand. Natural ornaments are finished so that the warm colour of the wood shows through. Painted ornaments are decorated with water-based acrylic paints and finished with three coats of clear varnish, with time to dry between each layer. Each ornament takes several hours to make, and every piece is unique and signed by its maker.

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