Author
Fariyal Jiwa
From theismaili.org
From prehistoric times to the present day, beads have been employed by many people for many purposes. Often used to denote social position, wealth or the achievements of the wearer, beads, by their size, type, quantity and colours, can have powerful tribal importance. There have always been people who value special bones, stones, shells, seeds and beads for their magical qualities. By incorporating beads into the cultural fabric of their lives, native people worldwide have given us a marvelously textured view of history.
Over the ages, the skill of bead makers and the demand for their artwork has led to these tiny treasures becoming an important ingredient of world trade. Used in an abacus or as items of barter, the value of beads in business has been immeasurable. As though they were road signs, beads are used by archaeologists to trace the spread of population and trading routes of ancient tribes and ethnic peoples. To this day, it is hard to find an ethnic group that does not give spiritual, religious, or tribal importance to beads.
My late husband and I were engaged in the art and crafts scene in Kenya for well over 20 years. We ran a small curio shop Bronze and Brass Limited, now closed, which was located in downtown Nairobi. Running the shop was a wonderfully enriching experience which afforded us the opportunity to meet many interesting people from all walks of life and to foster countless enduring friendships.
Beads, as luck would have it, were the wonderful medium through which we forged these relationships. They gave us and our friends (I prefer to think of them as “friends” rather than “customers”) the unique opportunity to explore and express our sometimes hidden, though always inspiring creative talents.
But it didn’t start off quite that way. In the 1970s and early 1980s jewellery stores and curio shops in Kenya mostly sold ready made necklaces containing semi-precious stones such as malachite, turquoise and lapis lazuli in standard designs and formats. Any attempt to change them or allow customers to create their own designs was passively discouraged. When such alterations or repairs were undertaken, it was often away from the eye of the customer, behind closed doors and shrouded in secrecy.
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