What does a needle have to do with an umbrella? Well it’s the box that comes between us and the answer to this question. I mean a mental box. And the thing is, it turns out it’s a Western-kind-of-thinking box. All will make sense I promise, just click and let’s begin the needle story…
Around East Africa, I’ve met many young people who make their living by creating for the souvenir industry, out of them, I occasionally meet artists. Baraka is just that, an artist in his soul.
A new and wonderful project started when one day I walked into the kitchen just as the chef finished cracking the unique Kilimanjaro oyster nuts for his famous sauce. I looked at the empty shells with their rich texture and immediately knew what I was going to create from them…
Here are some traditional crafts I came across in Zanzibar and Bagamoyo in Tanzania. Mostly made of coconut trees, befitting the Swahili culture of the East African coast…
How did I come to have weaving lessons in a bar on the Kilimanjaro mountain?
This story is about one traditional craft coming back to life in a bar of all places.
