12 items
Home Decor
A set of three hand carved wooden wall masks, made in Ghana. Each mask is a long oval face with a multicoloured stained finish, and its patterns are carved back to the pale wood beneath. The left mask carries a lion across the brow and a lattice over the cheeks. The middle one is red, with spirals on the brow and a carved sunburst on each cheek. The right mask has a bird across the brow and fanned lines beneath the eyes. Hung together they make a ready made group for a hallway, living room or office wall, and each one also works on its own. Each mask is about 30cm high and 10cm wide, as the tape measure in the photographs shows, and weighs about 0.25kg. You receive all three masks pictured. Wipe with a dry, soft cloth. Keep them out of direct sunlight and away from damp.
Sold by Unite Root Africa • Ghana
African products
A handmade gold jewellery box built from wooden craft sticks and hard card, with a pearl and gold bead border and a crystal flower knob on the lid. At 30cm by 20cm it keeps rings, earrings and bracelets together and free of dust on a dressing table. The sides are rows of wooden craft sticks, the kind sold as lolly or popsicle sticks, set upright side by side so their rounded ends form a scalloped lower edge, then painted gold. The lid carries a gold finish and is edged with alternating white pearl beads and gold beads over a braided gold trim. A small jute bow with pearl beads sits at the centre of the front. Inside, the box is lined with a burgundy fabric patterned in gold, which you can see in the second photograph, and the rim is finished with a cream cord. Made by hand in Nigeria and joined with adhesive, it suits anyone who wants a dressing table piece that looks gilded rather than a plain storage tray, and makes an easy gift. Care: keep it dry and wipe it with a soft dry cloth. It is card and wood with glued trims, so never wash it, and lift it from underneath rather than by the knob.
Sold by Akbhandicraftventures • Nigeria
Arts
A pair of hand carved wooden elephants, mother and child, each with a beaded blanket of tiny glass seed beads worked over the head and back. The mother stands about 10cm, the child about 7cm. They are sold as a set and they are meant to be kept as one. The small one stands a little ahead of the mother in the photograph, the way a calf walks, and that is how they look on a shelf: two objects that read as one thing. It makes them an easier gift than a single ornament, for a new baby, a nursery, or anyone who has been given an elephant before and has nowhere to put a second identical one. The beadwork is laid in bands of turquoise, red, yellow, royal blue, green and white, with a rosette worked over each ear. The legs, trunk and face are left as bare dark wood, so the colour sits on top of the carving rather than hiding it. Carved from sese wood in Accra and beaded by hand, one bead at a time. Dust with a dry soft brush, keep them out of direct sunlight, and do not use cleaning fluid on the beadwork.
Sold by Malikhandicraft • Ghana
Home Decor
A round handmade centre table: natural raffia rope coiled over a recycled tyre body, with the Gye Nyame Adinkra symbol worked into the top in dark rope, a clear round glass top above it and four tapered brass tone legs. Most statement furniture in a room has to fight for a job. This one already has the job of a coffee table, and does the talking underneath the glass rather than on top of it, so the surface stays usable. The glass sits on small posts just clear of the rope, which is what lets you read the symbol through it while still putting a cup down. The body is a worn out tyre, wound round and round with rope until the tyre disappears. It is a genuinely old idea in West African furniture making, and it is the reason a table this size is still liftable by one person. The rope is banded in dark and natural blocks around the sides, and the coiled symbol on the top face is laid in by hand, coil by coil. Lift the glass off to move the table. Dust the rope with a soft brush and keep it out of standing water.
Sold by NK Arts & Design • Ghana
Crafts
A working quartz wall clock set into a handmade sunburst of gold painted spoon heads, about 50cm across and 3cm deep. You are buying the complete clock, not a decoration to fit around one you already own. The square dial sits at the centre and the surround is built up by hand from rows of spoon heads, layered so the outer rows stand proud of the inner ones and catch the light as you move past. Every piece is placed by hand in Nigeria, so no two surrounds fall in exactly the same way, and the gold will read warmer or cooler depending on your wall and your lighting. Wipe with a dry soft cloth. Do not use water or spray cleaners on the painted surface.
Sold by Akbhandicraftventures • Nigeria
Home Decor
Three small carved wooden wall masks from Ghana, beaded and edged with cowrie shells. Each mask is carved from wood, finished in black and set with panels of small beads outlined in white, with a row of cowrie shells around the edge. The three are different: one green above and orange below, one red and yellow with open eyes and a green chin, and one green, yellow and orange with a speckled multicolour chin. At about 17cm high they are small pieces, made to hang as a group on a narrow stretch of wall, beside a door or above a shelf, or to split up as gifts. They are made by Ancient Culture, a Ghanaian artisan partner of Unite Root Africa in Nsawam. If you want larger masks, the store's Set of 3 Carved Wooden Wall Masks are about 30cm high.
Sold by Unite Root Africa • Ghana
Home Decor
A small carved wood elephant from Accra, blackened and polished, with panels of red and white glass seed beads laid over its head and down its back. The trunk is raised, the ears are carved proud of the head, and it stands on its own four feet on a desk or a shelf. The beadwork carries three Greek letters, theta, sigma and delta, running down the back panel, with a second panel across the forehead. The second photograph is the view from behind and it is the one that shows them. Everything else is left as bare carved wood, so the beading reads as a saddle cloth on a plain black animal rather than as decoration all over. It is small, about 8 by 10cm, so it suits a desk, a bookshelf or a windowsill rather than a mantelpiece. Beaded by hand one at a time, so no two panels are identical. Carved wood with glass seed beads. Dust it with a dry soft brush.
Sold by Malikhandicraft • Ghana
Home Decor
A carved wooden wall mask from Ghana, beaded in colour and set with cowrie shells. The mask is carved from wood and finished in black. The forehead is covered in speckled multicolour beads around a black and white beaded arrowhead and ring, the eyes and nose are carved into the wood, and the cheeks below are beaded in green and yellow, every panel outlined in white. Small cowrie shells are set in pairs down both sides. At about 32cm high it is a single statement piece for a hallway, a narrow wall or above a shelf. It is made by Ancient Culture, a Ghanaian artisan partner of Unite Root Africa in Nsawam. If you would rather hang a group, the store's Set of 3 Beaded Wall Masks are smaller, about 17cm each.
Sold by Unite Root Africa • Ghana
Crafts
A handmade crochet Christmas wreath, 30cm across, with a bow and three bells. The ring is worked in moss green yarn and edged with a deep red ruffle trimmed in white, so it reads as a classic red, green and white wreath from across a room. At the top sits a crocheted bow in white, red and green, with three crocheted bells, one red, one white and one green, gathered at its centre. Every part of it, bow and bells included, is made by hand in soft acrylic yarn, so there are no needles or glitter to shed, and it can be packed away after the holidays and brought out again next year. Hang it on a front door, a wall or a window, or lay it flat on a table as a centrepiece, as in the first photograph.
Sold by Esthercraftsiniciative • Kenya
Home Decor
A set of 12 loose crochet flowers in mixed colours, each about 2 inches across. Each one is a flat five petal flower worked by hand in yarn, with a centre in a contrasting colour. Glue or stitch them around a mirror or picture frame, as in the first photograph, or use them on baskets, cards, gift wrap and hair accessories. The second photograph shows the maker's table of finished flowers, so you can see the range of colours. Your 12 come as a mix like those pictured. This listing is for the flowers only. The mirror in the first photograph is not included. If you want a fuller, more raised look, the same maker sells a set of 12 crochet puff flowers where you choose the colour family. Care: dust gently or spot clean with cool water and let them dry flat.
Sold by Stellz.Crochets • Lagos
Home Decor
A carved wooden bird, painted by hand and standing on black wire legs. The body is a bright glossy red, the head black with a white stripe over the crown and a white ring round the eye, and the beak a soft grey. A mottled brown patch covers the wing, which ends in black feathers lined in white, and the tail is red with fine white lines. The wire legs end in spread toes, so the bird stands on its own on a shelf, desk or windowsill. Carved from wood, painted, and sealed with a protective coating. Dust with a soft dry cloth; keep away from water.
Sold by Tribal Shop • Kenya
Home Decor
A set of 12 loose crochet puff flowers, each about 2.5 inches across. Each flower is worked by hand in soft yarn, with five rounded puff stitch petals around a contrasting centre, so it stands up from the surface rather than lying flat. They are made for decorating a mirror frame, and they work just as well on a picture frame, a basket, a gift box or a headband. You choose the colour family: shades of orange, red, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black or pink. Your 12 flowers come in a mix of tones within that family, as in the photograph, which shows the purple shades. This listing is for the flowers only. The mirror is not included, and they arrive loose, ready for you to glue or stitch in place. If you prefer the flatter five petal flower, the same maker sells a set of 12 regular crochet flowers in mixed colours. Care: dust gently or spot clean with cool water and let them dry flat.
Sold by Stellz.Crochets • Lagos
