Sokofa Origin Series
Tingatinga painting, beadwork and craft from East Africa's coast and highlands
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Crafts
A handwoven palm basket bag from Zanzibar, about 60cm wide, with a printed cotton band and centre panel, cloth wrapped handles, small leather tabs and a tie closure. Kapu is the Swahili word for basket, and this is the everyday island shape rather than a version of it redrawn for export. It is wide and shallow and flares open at the top, so a towel, a book and a bottle of water sit side by side instead of stacking on top of each other. That is what you want from a market or beach bag and it is exactly what a narrow tote cannot do. The body is plaited from dried palm leaf, worked in Zanzibar in strips known as ukili. The printed cloth is stitched down the centre front and around the top band, the two handles are wrapped in the same cloth and anchored with small tan leather tabs, and a length of cloth ties the top shut. Choose Kitenge, the bold wax print, or Kikoi, the lighter Swahili coastal cloth. Brush it out rather than washing it, and keep it out of the rain.
Sold by Sunora • Tanzania
Arts
A hand painted Tingatinga painting of African birds, butterflies and flowers on a black background, painted to order in your choice of size. A blue and orange toucan sits at the centre of a tree full of birds in yellow, coral pink, turquoise and deep blue, among green leaves, bright flowers, patterned butterflies, pink flamingos and a pair of ladybirds. Every feather and petal is outlined in fine detail, and the black ground makes the colours glow, so it reads as a cheerful focal point in a living room, a bedroom or a child's room. The design is by the Tanzanian artist Lukas, and the photo shows his painting. Yours is painted by hand to order by the studio's artists in the size you choose: 50 x 50, 70 x 70, 80 x 80 or 100 x 100 cm. Oil on canvas.
Sold by TingaTinga Art • Tanzania
Arts
An original acrylic painting on stretched canvas, 90 by 60cm, showing a single bull elephant walking out of a savannah sunset, with acacia trees and a jagged mountain behind it. The whole painting is lit from one place: the sun dropping behind the mountain at the centre of the canvas. Everything in front of that light is in near silhouette, so the elephant is built almost entirely out of shadow, and the few warm touches that do land on it, along the forehead, the top of the trunk and the tusks, are what make it read as an animal rather than a shape. It is a quiet painting for a wall that gets evening light, and it will hold a large space on its own. The canvas is stretched over a wooden frame and the scene is carried around the painted edges, so it hangs as it is and needs no framing. It is signed feroos in the lower right corner. Stock of one, because there is one of it. Hang it out of direct sunlight to keep the sunset colours, and dust it with a dry soft brush rather than a cloth.
Sold by FEROOS ARTZ • Tanzania
Arts
Together in Harmony is a hand painted acrylic canvas, 60 by 80cm, of two green parrots perched together on a blossom branch above a running stream. The two birds face each other along the bough, one in pale yellow green and one in deeper green with a blue flash down the tail, and both long tails fall through pink blossom towards the water below. The paint is laid on thickly, so the feathers and the broken white water sit proud of the surface and shift as the light moves across the room. The canvas is signed K Art Witney in the lower right corner. Of the three paintings in this collection this is the warmest and the busiest, so it suits a wall that needs lifting rather than calming: a hallway, a landing or a kitchen. If you want the quiet version of the same idea, the same artist's swan painting carries it at sunrise instead. Supplied unframed as a stretched canvas, painted in Tanzania. Wipe the surface with a dry soft cloth and keep it out of direct sunlight.
Sold by pamoja creative circle • Tanzania
Arts
Serenity Within is a hand painted acrylic canvas, 60 by 80cm, of two white swans on still water below a snow capped mountain at sunrise. The sun breaks at the foot of the mountain and lays a band of gold straight down the middle of the lake, and the two swans meet inside it. Autumn trees frame both banks and a bed of small pink and orange flowers runs along the front edge. The water is worked in long horizontal strokes so the reflection breaks up the way real water does. The canvas is signed K Art Witney in the lower left corner and has a hanger fitted to the top of the stretcher. This is the calm one of the three. It is the painting for a bedroom, a landing or a hallway you pass slowly, where the parrot canvas from the same artist would be too loud. Supplied unframed as a stretched canvas, painted in Tanzania. Wipe the surface with a dry soft cloth and keep it out of direct sunlight.
Sold by pamoja creative circle • Tanzania
Fashion Accessories
A brass cuff bracelet and matching drop earrings, set with turquoise stones. Bahari is the Swahili word for the sea, and the maker made this set with the blue of the ocean in mind. The cuff is a wide band of polished brass with a large oval turquoise stone at the centre and a raised cast brass detail on either side. It is open at the back, so it slips on over the wrist. The earrings are open, eye shaped brass frames, each holding a round turquoise stone, and hang from hook ear wires. You receive the cuff and one pair of earrings. The maker gives the size as 6 x 6cm. Care: brass darkens naturally with wear. A soft dry cloth brings back the shine; keep the pieces away from water and perfume.
Sold by Sunora • Tanzania
Fashion Accessories
A handwoven palm basket bag from Zanzibar, banded in kikoi with a fringe and leather straps. Two colourways are in stock, one bag of each. The orange bag has a striped orange kikoi band, red twisted cord fringe and a yellow striped panel down the front (photos 1 and 3). The turquoise bag has a striped turquoise and grey kikoi band, turquoise fringe and tasselled corners (photo 2). Green, brown, purple and pink appear in the colour picker but are sold out and not photographed. Kapu is the Swahili word for basket. Where the maker's Kitenge kapu has cloth wrapped handles and a tie top, this one is finished in leather: two dark leather handles long enough to carry on the shoulder, stitched to the band on leather tabs, and a tooled leather tab down the centre front with a buckled strap. The body is plaited from dried palm leaf, the kikoi is stitched around the top and down the front, and the fringe hangs along the lower edge of the band. About 50cm wide and 40cm tall, as given by the maker. Brush it out rather than washing it, and keep it out of the rain.
Sold by Sunora • Tanzania
Arts
Guardians of Kilimanjaro is a large original acrylic painting on canvas, 137 x 150cm, of two Maasai elders in red shukas looking out over tall grass towards Mount Kilimanjaro. The elders are seen from behind, one wrapped in a checked shuka and the other in a sleeveless red cloth with a pale belt, each resting on a staff. The mountain sits pale and snow capped above them, and the grass in the foreground is painted blade by blade, close enough that it frames the two men rather than sitting behind them. It belongs to the artist's Heritage Series, about the people who keep a culture's identity, land and knowledge. This is a one of a kind original, not a print. It is painted by Kamanzi in a studio in Arusha, Tanzania, signed Kamanzi Artlife in the lower right corner, and comes with the artist's certificate of authenticity. At 137cm wide and 150cm high (about 54 x 59 inches) it is a statement piece for a large wall: a living room, an office reception, or a hallway with room to step back from it. The canvas is shipped rolled in a tube and unstretched, so plan to have it stretched or framed when it arrives. The artist is also open to commissions.
Sold by Kamanzi Artlife • Tanzania
Arts
Rhythm of Life is a large hand painted acrylic canvas, 100 by 140cm, of a pair of tabla drums set against a sweep of deep blue, white and gold. The two drums sit on their rings at the foot of the canvas, the larger one to the right, their white heads and dark centres catching the light. Above them the background is laid on in thick vertical knife strokes of cobalt, navy and white, broken by patches of red and ochre, so the surface has real texture that changes as the light moves across it. Two lines of Hindi are lettered in gold on either side, with the Om symbol between them. The artist reads the tabla as a heartbeat, and the whole painting as life's balance between struggle, joy, silence and celebration. At 1.4 metres tall it is a statement piece that wants a wall of its own: a living room, a music room or a stairwell. If your space is smaller, the same store's 60 by 80cm bird paintings are the better fit. Supplied unframed as a stretched canvas, painted in Tanzania. Wipe the surface with a dry soft cloth and keep it out of direct sunlight.
Sold by pamoja creative circle • Tanzania
Arts
Moments of Pure Beauty is a hand painted acrylic canvas, 60 by 80cm, of a kingfisher on a mossy log above white water, with a green valley opening behind it. The bird sits in profile, blue back to you and orange breast turned to the light, its long dark bill held level over the river. Red flowers crowd the left bank, the water runs white over rock below, and soft blue hills close the view. The paint is thickest around the water, so the spray catches the light before the rest of the picture does. The canvas is signed K Art Witney in the lower right corner and has a hanger fitted to the top of the stretcher. This is the one with a single subject rather than a pair, so it holds a wall on its own: above a desk, a reading chair or a narrow stretch of hallway where a wider scene would be wasted. Supplied unframed as a stretched canvas, painted in Tanzania. Wipe the surface with a dry soft cloth and keep it out of direct sunlight.
Sold by pamoja creative circle • Tanzania
Fashion
A made to measure two piece kitenge suit: a fitted blazer and a matching pencil skirt. The print is bold sunburst rings in yellow and plum on a blue and grey patterned ground, with plain navy lapels, flap pockets and turned back cuffs framing it. The blazer closes with a single gold tone button at the waist and the skirt sits just above the knee, as worn in the photographs. The word kitenge is Swahili, the East African name for these patterned cloths, and the maker cuts this suit in Tanzania from their own design. It works for creative events, the office and anywhere you want a suit that says where your style comes from. This suit is cut to your measurements. After ordering you give your height, chest, shoulder, waist and hip, and the maker tailors the blazer and skirt to fit.
Sold by THAT"S QP • Tanzania
Fashion
A handmade brown leather pouch with a hand beaded flap. The curved flap is covered in rows of seed beads laid in a rainbow arc: a gold band flecked with coloured beads, then white, then shimmering blue, repeated towards the centre, all framed by the stitched leather edge. It is made for carrying your everyday essentials and adds a bright handmade touch to an outfit. Size: about 26 x 15cm, as given by the maker. Material: leather with a beaded flap. Care: wipe the leather with a soft dry cloth, keep the beadwork away from water and avoid pulling at the beads. Made by hand by a Tanzanian designer. That’s QP: The Golden Hand.
Sold by THAT"S QP • Tanzania
About Tanzania
Tanzania gave the continent one of its most recognisable painting styles. Tingatinga began in Dar es Salaam in the 1960s with enamel on board, flat saturated colour and subjects drawn from village life and the animals around it, and painters still work in that lineage today.
Alongside painting, Tanzanian craft takes in Maasai beadwork shared with neighbouring Kenya, Makonde carving, and woven pieces made for the home. Shopping made-in-Tanzania on Sokofa puts you in direct contact with the artists and makers themselves.
What you'll find
Why Sokofa
Every vendor on Sokofa is personally verified. When you buy tanzania products here, you buy directly from the artisan, with no middlemen and full transparency.
Common questions
Sokofa carries work from Tanzanian painters and makers, including original canvas painting in the Tingatinga tradition and its contemporary descendants, Maasai beadwork, and handcrafted pieces made for everyday use.
Tingatinga is a Tanzanian painting style that began in Dar es Salaam in the 1960s with Edward Said Tingatinga. It is known for enamel paint on board or canvas, flat saturated colour and bold, often playful animal and village subjects. The style is now carried on by a second and third generation of painters.
Yes. Every seller on Sokofa is verified before their products go live. We confirm seller identity, product origin and craftsmanship, so buying here supports the Tanzanian artist or maker directly.
Yes. Sokofa ships internationally to the UK, US, Europe, Australia, Canada and beyond. Delivery timelines and costs are shown at checkout.
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