African Rainbow Vase

African Rainbow Vase

This beautiful rainbow vase came all the way from Kenya on one of their trips abroad. They decided to travel out to Africa to see if they could lend a hand to any projects that needed manpower on the ground. They found a group who taught their members to carve soapstone so that they could support their families. As much as they wanted to be able to help in practical ways, the best thing they could do for these people was to buy their crafts and bring them back to England to encourage others to do the same. Getting it back was more of a challenge! They had several soapstone items in their luggage and unfortunately some broke on the way over. When the authorities wanted to check their parcels at the border, they opened the box with their vases in and *poof*, a plume of white powder filled the air. Fairly quickly they were accosted and arrested! After a few hours interrogation and several tests, it was established that they were not carrying anything dodgy and that when crushed, soapstone disintegrates into white powder. They were more careful with their luggage after this day.

Specifications

This stunning Rainbow Soapstone vase has been dug out of the ground, carved, painted and polished by the Tabaka Chigware Youths Self-Help Group, a community of young artisans, which launched in 1996, with 40 young members aged 18 and over. An even mix of young women and men, their group successfully started improving their families’ and communities’ livelihoods. Through crafting soapstone goods, they have been contributing to improved housing, clean water initiatives, medical facilities, and better education for their children.

Size H 20cm x W 20cm