| Brands We Love | KAZI GOODS
Updated: Jun 29, 2020
"At KAZI, we believe that everyone
deserves to make a fair wage to support
themselves and those around them, no
matter where they are in the world. We
don’t just measure success by how many
products or services we’ve sold—but by
how the lives of our artisans and their
communities improve over time, too."
While shopping for Sovereign and Sun merchandise I came across Kazi, I was floored by the vibrant colors and intricate details. Seriously, I could have purchased every item right then and there, just look for yourself in the House of Bauhaus Collection, it’s about 75% all Kazi brand. As I was still wandering down the rabbit hole of Kazi Goods I jumped down, overly obsessing over them, I needed more and I needed to know who made it, where it came from and what the story behind the brand was. Here is what I found out!
Kazi was created by a lovely couple who really wanted to change the world for the better, however they werent quite satisfied with their previous efforts to help create different solutions to pull people out of poverty. Focused on helping various communities in Africa, they had initially developed and set forth programs to pay for children to go to school, however when one local woman explained to them that while she appreciated what they were doing for her child, that they now were faced with another problem, not enough food to feed their family, because the children were not able to help on the farm anymore while attending school. The woman explained quite simply, “what we really need are jobs"
After some brainstorming and hard work, Kazi was born.
"Kazi is equipping and empowering women and men to succeed beyond their biggest dreams. Now, these women and men send their kids to school without traditional aid, through their own hard work.”
Through proper training and given the right resources and tools, Kazi has provided a workplace for local artist to showcase and profit from their craft and giving them exposure to a global market that they never had access to. Kazi stole my heart, and I am definitely even more in love with their products now. It is such an incredible story of an idea that came to fruition and I am not the best writer so I urge you to go to https://kazigoods.com/pages/kazi-story and get to know them a little more. This link will direct you to the ‘ Meet the Artisan’s” Page.
Sovereign & Sun is an artist (aka ME) created, designed, painted, drawn, dreamed, curated etc etc etc, woman owned business. As a child,my dream was always to one day be lucky enough to have a career that allows me to essentially work and play with my hands at the same time. It is not an easy path,and and you really have to work hard to get noticed, but as someone wise once said, if you love your work, you’ll never work a day in your life ( jokes on me though because as I am typing this I have bandages on my hands from creating an unrelated cement sculpture out back and was "too cool” to wear protective gloves, lesson learned and that definitely felt like WORK ) With that being said, it makes me feel good to give praise and appreciation and hopefully some sales to a much deserving business.
I am so excited about selling and supporting this brand and other brands like this, through my small business page because they support artist and I support that. Did I mention Kazi has managed to create employment for over 3,600 artisans from Rwanda, Uganda, and Ghana, which ripples out to impact more than 19,000 family members and 100,000 community members. THAT is a big deal. Kazi is a woman owned company, creating home goods that are sustainably sourced with the highest ethical standards, and now more than ever I really appreciated the message I got from their story, which put simply is “good people still exist” and “ support your fellow artist”.
That was my first blog post! Today is my first day open and I am so happy that I was able to spend part of it shining some light through this appreciation post on Kazi. Check back later this week for my Artist/Owner Bio!
Check Out the House of ' Bauhaus Handmade Home-Decor ‘ page where you can shop Kazi
