Hidden Gem · 1
- Kazuri Karen / Mbagathi Ridge / Online
Kenyan social enterprise hand-forming, painting and glazing ceramic beads and jewellery in Nairobi. store page → · open in the atlas →
Worth a Detour · 3
- Kiambethu Tea Farm Limuru / Kenya
Arnold Butler McDonell bought 350 acres in the Limuru highlands from the British government in 1904, and spent over a decade watching coffee, corn and flax all fail at the farm's 7,200-foot altitude. store page → · open in the atlas → - Swahili Woodcarving Art Lamu Old Town, Lamu Island, Kenya
Carver Almasi works in the tradition behind Lamu's studded doors, hand-carving frames, stools, plaques and ceremonial staffs marked with Swahili folk motifs, and leads walking tours through Old Town explaining the history of the carved doorways. Commission orders run months out, and short courses let visitors pick up the chisel work directly from him. store page → · open in the atlas → - The Flipflopi Project Lamu, Kenya
Boatbuilders in Lamu construct dhows from reclaimed plastic and flip-flops, work that produced the Flipflopi Ndogo, billed as the world's first sailing dhow built entirely from recycled plastic. The same workshop's artisans carve furniture from the salvaged material, including a Swahili-style throne made for King Charles, and sell finished pieces through their Flipflopi Designs line. store page → · open in the atlas →
The Register · 15
- Aman Shela Village, Lamu Island, Kenya
Four tailors working out of a Shela studio cut and stitch handloom, block-print cotton and peace-silk garments, using only natural fibers and passing fabric offcuts to an island recycling initiative. The label sidesteps seasonal fashion cycles, favoring simple, considered pieces over trend-driven collections. store page → · open in the atlas → - Bookstop Nairobi / Yaya Centre, Kilimani
Kenya's great independent bookshop since 1989 — Chan Bahal's two floors above Kilimani stock everything from Kenyan fiction and East African history to foreign periodicals, and Nairobi's writers treat it as a clubhouse. The place to find the literature of the region at its source. store page → · open in the atlas → - deepa-dosaja Village market, nairobi / kenya / online & in Store / Kenya
Deepa Dosaja is a Nairobi-based sustainable luxury fashion house making ready-to-wear and couture from natural fabrics, with its main boutique next to Karel T Lounge, above CJ's, in Village Market. The brand also runs a Loresho Ridge store and a private, appointment-only showroom at MK Plaza, alongside worldwide shipping from its online shop. store page → · open in the atlas → - Kazuri Beads Nairobi / Karen (Karen Blixen estate)
Ceramic jewelry made since 1975, when Lady Susan Wood started Kazuri with two women in her Karen Blixen estate garden shed. Today hundreds of Kenyan women, many single mothers, shape Mount Kenya clay into fair-trade beads. store page → · open in the atlas → - KenKnit Eldoret
An Eldoret knitwear and textile manufacturer of nearly fifty years that calls itself East and Central Africa's first fully integrated textile company. Its range runs from school and institutional sweaters to blankets, towels, kikoys, Maasai shukas and yarn. store page → · open in the atlas → - KikoRomeo Village Market
Kenyan fashion house founded in 1996 by Scottish-born, Nairobi-based designer Ann McCreath, starting in her garage with a menswear-only line. Now led by her daughter, creative director Iona McCreath, since 2018. store page → · open in the atlas → - Kiondo basket weavers Maasai Market
Traditional Kikuyu kiondo baskets — hand-woven sisal bags with leather handles. store page → · open in the atlas → - Kitengela Glass Nairobi / Kenya
Started in the early 1990s outside Nairobi, Kitengela Glass turns locally recycled scrap glass into blown tumblers, vases, beads, chandeliers and architectural dalle de verre panels. Its online store sells the work worldwide while the studio welcomes visitors for glassblowing demos and experiences. store page → · open in the atlas → - Malaika Gifts & Interiors Nakuru / Kenya
A Nakuru gift and interiors shop, Malaika sells handcrafted Kenyan pieces from beaded purses and watches to sisal kiondo baskets, wooden trays and soapstone. Made from local materials, its products are available in the Westside Mall store and by countrywide and worldwide delivery. store page → · open in the atlas → - Malindi Handicrafts Malindi / Kenya
At Muyeye Village in Malindi, this showroom sells authentic African carvings, Kisii soapstone, masks, drums, and batiks, with hundreds of woodcarvers working on site. Visitors browse and buy directly from the showroom. store page → · open in the atlas → - Natural Lamu Shela, Lamu Island, Kenya
The brand grows moringa and other botanicals on its own farm in Lamu and turns them into soaps, oils, balms and solid perfumes, a business its founders describe as growing "from sandy soil to skincare success." A treatment studio and retail counter sit on Lamu Island in Shela, alongside sister outlets in Nairobi, Mombasa and Malindi. store page → · open in the atlas → - One Off Contemporary Art Gallery Nairobi / Kenya
A Nairobi gallery representing artists from across East Africa — Rashid Diab, Beatrice Wanjiku and others — across a green-cube space and a sculpture garden. Paintings, prints and sculpture from exclusive and associate artists, by appointment. store page → · open in the atlas → - Rivatex East Africa Kipkarren Road, Eldoret
This long-running Eldoret mill prints cotton fabrics in bright colours and distinctive bordered designs, one of Kenya's established cloth manufacturers. Its factory outlet and brand sell African prints, dress fabrics and finished textiles direct from the plant. store page → · open in the atlas → - Spinners Web Kenya Nairobi / Kenya
Founded in 1985, Spinners Web is a Nairobi showroom drawing on more than 500 Kenyan and sub-Saharan workshops for handmade baskets, jewelry, textiles, woodwork and home decor. Housed in a Scandinavian-influenced building with a garden cafe, the shop is open six days a week at Kitisuru Road. store page → · open in the atlas → - Spring Valley Coffee Nairobi / Kenya
Spring Valley Coffee's roots reach back to 1905, to one of Kenya's first coffee estates, established in the Spring Valley neighborhood on the outskirts of Nairobi. store page → · open in the atlas →