Down a well-worn elephant path in the heart of the African bush, sits a workshop where 8 courageous, local Zambians create Beauty from Brutality. This social business is called Mulberry Mongoose and we have become well-known for transforming brutal poacher’s snare wire into hand-crafted jewellery.
Each piece of jewellery is designed to reflect the grace and ruggedness of the unique South Luangwa valley where we are based. The 7 local women and 1 local gentleman use organic materials from hand carved wooden beads, seeds, feathers and vintage coins and mix them with semi-precious stones. These designs are both beautiful and meaningful reinvesting back into the remote African economy.
Beauty from Brutality: turning poacher’s snare wire into good
Snare poaching is one of the biggest killers of wildlife in Southern Africa. Poachers set wire traps to capture bush meat causing the indiscriminate and painful maiming and death of iconic animals including lion, leopard and elephant. Thankfully, brave rangers patrol Africa’s wild spaces to collect the wire before it harms animals. Poacher’s snare wire is usually a brutal material including stainless steel fencing and cables.
With courage, strength and ingenuity, our team transforms this repurposed wire into unique beads. We craft beautiful pieces of jewellery and with every piece sold we donate back to help fund anti snare patrols in Zambia contributing over $122,000 to conservation since we started up in 2013. Due to this innovation, we have won attention from celebrities and leading publications including National Geographic and Marie Claire US as well as being worn by President Bill Clinton and Supermodel Doutzen Kroes.
Why are we called Mulberry Mongoose?
Our name captures our business purpose. The banded mongoose is a wonderful animal found in the African bush. They survive in the bush as a community - one mongoose keeps watch for predators whilst others care for the young or feed. Similarly, Mulberry Mongoose grows as a business by caring for our surroundings, firstly creating invaluable employment and by protecting Zambia’s wildlife.The colour Mulberry has its roots in the UK and growing up, our British founder Kate Wilson also had a Mulberry tree in her garden. Despite the challenges of our remote location in the bush, our team creates jewellery of an international quality and design standard which is symbolised through the word Mulberry.
