Profile
Upon her return to Kenya from Tanzania in 1975, the Late Lady Susan wood set up a fledgling business making beads in a small shed in her back garden. She started with two single women as assistants. Before long she discovered that there were many more women who were in need of jobs and so Kazuri Beads began its long and successful journey as a help centre for needy women, especially single mothers who have no other source of income.

In the early 1990's the Gulf War gave Kazuri its first real setback as its principal market, the tourists to Kenya, vanished overnight. The decision was then made to diversify into pottery and create a product that could be sold in the home market. After much trial and error and with the help of a ceramic expert from England, a pottery business was borne, reminiscent of the pottery industry of England 100 years ago.

The Late Mark and Regina Newman bought the company in 2001 and their guiding philosophy is to provide employment opportunities to the disadvantaged members of Kenyan society, while at the same time producing products made to the highest international standards.

These standards are maintained through the constant training of their employees in all aspects of production. To date Kazuri employs approximately 300 women, and exports to 30 countries worldwide.

The mission of Kazuri is to provide and sustain employment opportunities to the disadvantaged members of the Kenyan society. . In accordance with their mission Kazuri strives to produce top quality Hand-made and Hand-painted Ceramic Jewellery and Pottery. This will ensure that they are well equipped to compete in both the international and local market place.

The Kazuri process for making pottery from moistened clay is similar to that of making beads. However, pottery is made using either hand thrown or slip cast methods. Hand thrown items are done on electric potter wheels whereas cast items are done using precast, plaster of paris moulds. The moulds are all made in-house by a local lady at Kazuri. The items are dried for at least 10 days to remove all excess water used during moulding or throwing.

The full Kazuri story "A String of Beads", a book written by Susan Wood, may be purchased from Kazuri Kenya or any of its distributors.