Kazuri Bead Story
Women Helping Women
Kazuri Bead Story - Kazuri Founder - Lady Susan Wood, a daughter of missionaries was born (1918) in a mud hut in an African village. She moved to England to be educated and vowed to return to Kenya to dedicate her life to making a difference.
In 1975, Lady Wood set up a fledging business making beads in a small shed with two disadvantaged women, and quickly realized that many more women were in need of jobs and so Kazuri Beads was created and began its successful journey as a help center for needy women especially single mothers with no other source of income. With unemployment so high, one jobholder often ends up providing for an "extended family" of 20 or more.
Kazuri, the Swahili word for 'small and beautiful' produces a wide range of hand made, hand painted ceramic jewelry that shines with a kaleidoscope of African colors. The beads are made with clay from the Mt Kenya area thus giving them authenticity and worldwide fashion appeal.
