Zulugrass is a unique and versatile type of jewellery made by the Maasai women in Kenya. Each strand contains vibrantly dyed grass combined with sparkling hand blown Czech glass beads - all threaded onto a strong elasticated thread.
The Zulusport range has been designed to offer a fun and sporty alternative to Zulugrass. This simple charm bracelet looks cute on it's own, and even better layered up with a few other colours or with some of our zulusport bracelets.
Presented on a zulusport card featuring details of the fair trade nature of the product. If you are buying more than one colour for a gift just let us know and we can pop them on the same card.
Matching Zulusport charm necklace available.
Bracelet length 18cm.
Please note that charms will vary, but will have been chosen to co-ordinate with the bracelet colour. Charms are usually hearts, leaves, diamonds or ladybirds.
NATURAL - The jewellery is made from the sustainable resource of abundant grass that grows in Kenya. The Maasai women harvest the long grass one blade at a time, leave it to dry, then cut it into bead-size pieces and dye it.
FAIRTRADE - Katy and Philip Leakey came up with the idea for Zulugrass after seeing the effect of the 2001 severe drought on the people of the Kenyan bush, where they live. They wanted to help the local community by providing work opportunities without interfering with local culture, and so came up with an idea that would utilise the traditional jewellery-making skills of the Maasai women whilst their men had to drive their few remaining cattle hundreds of miles away to search for better grazing. The Massai women like to work with the freedom to come and go as their lives dictate so the work is offered in non-factory settings at "nomadic" work stations which span over 150 miles in the Rift Valley in Kenya. Each woman can choose to work when she wants to, and is paid by the piece. They now provide work for more than 1,400 Maasai women during peak seasons. The project was a finalist in the BBC World Challenge ’08 awards which recognises small businesses around the world that have shown enterprise and innovation at a grass-roots level.
