Zulugrass Multi-Strand Necklace and Bracelet
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Natural grass beads dyed in rich hues are combined with sparkling hand blown Czech glass beads to create luminous Zulugrass jewelry. Hand made with the utmost care and craftmanship. More details... |
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Zulugrass Multi-Strand Necklace and Bracelet
Zulugrass Multi-Strand Necklace and Bracelet
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Zulugrass Multi-Strand Necklace and Bracelet
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Zulugrass Multi-Strand Necklace and Bracelet
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Zulugrass Multi-Strand Necklace and Bracelet
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Necklace is adjustable from 13” to 29” on cord.
10% of all sales from these special pink products will be donated back to women in Kenya as well as women across the globe through the Este Lauder Cancer Research Foundation. Let’s unite in the fight for a cure. The donation will be divided between our women’s health initiative in rural parts of the Maasai Mara and with a donation to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Facts : The product - Zulugrass
* The concept of Zulugrass sold by the single strand to design your own jewelry is the combined creation of Katy and Philip Leakey.
* Each piece of Zulugrass is designed by Katy and Philip Leakey and assembled by the Maasai women of Kenya.
* Zulugrass is a design your own jewelry that can be worn in a variety of ways; necklaces choker or long, bracelets, belts, anklets, hair-ties, and is also used creatively as gifts with other applications.
* Zulugrass is jewelry made from grass beads dyed with textile dyes and mixed with hand blown Czech glass beads and Japanese glass beads and strung on elastic that was invented for the movie Spiderman.
* The grass is harvested by hand, blade by blade from tall stands, and cut by hand, bead by bead. The grass grows with a hole in it and is hard and durable, often used in the furniture industry because of its strength.
* Zulugrass is water proof, salt water and fresh, colorfast, and long lasting, the elastic has a memory of over 6 years and still going even if warn every day, sun, shower, pool or ocean and tied in any number of ways from day to day.
* The grass takes the dye in such a way as to reflect a deep luminescence and vibrant color.
* The Leakey Collection uses only the highest quality glass beads available in the world, those of Czech Republic and Japan, which are renowned for reflecting the most striking rays of pure color.
* Zulugrass was born out of a need: by the end of the devastating drought in Kenya around 2001 the Leakey's were supporting as many as 100 Maasai families by giving them money for food, school fees, medical expenses and housing. This was not sustainable for either party. The men had left the women and children behind as they had to take the surviving cattle far up country in search of grazing land. The men had been away for as long as two years. Philip Leakey came up with the idea to create jewelry made from grass. At first the designs were rather traditional and the Leakey's found too small a market to do much good for the Maasai as the line was considered too "ethnic" by the western market. It was then that Katy Leakey came up with the modification of the single strand on elastic as a design your own jewelry system and the contemporary and global Zulugrass Jewelry with the Zulugirl logo was born.
* Zulugrass is currently sold in over 20 countries world wide and growing.
Based in central Kenya, East Africa, The Leakey Collection founders Philip and Katy Leakey, combine their talents in interior design and the arts with their love of nature to develop stunning handcrafted products for an international market.
Using natural elements such as fallen wood, grass and ceramic, these renowned designers create unique products while protecting the environment and providing economic opportunity to the local communities.
The Maasai are a pastoral group of people that live in the magnificent Great Rift Valley of Kenya and Tanzania. A tall, proud, and graceful people adorned in colorful clothing and ornaments, the Maasai still keep their traditions intact - herding cattle and living off the land as modernization changes the world around them.
A terrible drought that ended in 2001 lasted several years and devastated pasture lands. The Maasai's livelihood disappeared as their cattle died. The men had to drive the few remaining cattle hundreds of miles away to search for better grazing and it became evident that the women desperately needed a way to obtain medical supplies, and to feed, clothe, and educate their children.
Philip and Katy Leakey, who live among the Maasai in the Kenyan bush, wanted to help their neighbors and to provide work opportunities without changing their culture. They came up with an imaginative idea that would utilize the excellent beading abilities of the Maasai women, and it used grass, an available sustainable resource, as the primary element.
Soon the women were harvesting grass, one blade at a time. The long grass was dried and cut into bead-size pieces and dyed lovely hues - blues, greens, reds, yellows, pinks, purples, earth and natural tones - which were then strung into necklaces and bracelets. The Leakeys added brilliant Czech glass beads to their designs, mixing them with the soft luster of the grass beads and giving sparkle and a contemporary flair to the jewelry. Zulugrass was born.
In short order, the women learned that they could bring their babies and toddlers with them and they would be paid by the piece as they chose to work. As word passed through the Maasai community, women started walking as much as two hours each way to have their first chance to earn money. Now over 1400 hundred Maasai women are making Zulugrass while continuing to lead their lives in their traditional life style, and they can use their income to better their lives as they wish. Some have been able to reunite their families after earning enough to purchase cattle to restock herds and one woman has bought her own goat herd.
Philip and Katy Leakey's inspiration gave birth to Zulugrass - the beautiful jewelry handcrafted by experts, the Maasai women of Kenya. Zulugrass continues to provide much needed and desired opportunity for these wonderful women and their families.
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