Hand Carved Wooden Beads & Displays

'It means a lot to supply you. It gives me the courage to show my talent and thanks to Mulberry Mongoose for the support and belief in what I do. You really support local artists.' - Amon, local artisan

We buy over 5,000 hand carved wooden beads each year. Working with wood offcuts local carpenters use an axe and vice to shape the wood; with chisel and saw they refine the shapes before using sandpaper to finish each bead. No electric tools are used and no two wooden beads are the same.

Wood is collected from the forestry department to ensure it is ethically sourced. Attached to the back of a bike the wood is cycled many kilometers to arrive back at open-air workshops along our main tar road. Oftentimes our beads can be made from the leftover wood of larger carpentry projects enabling the artisan to maximize financial benefit from their bought wood.

The hand carved wooden beads are drilled, sanded and sometimes letter stamped by our team before being added to our designs. Particularly used in our Zambezi, Organic element, and Savannah collection we love how they represent the African bush in color and texture.

Our talented carpenters also create our shop displays. The wonderful organic look celebrates African artisanal skill and enables us to further invest in our rural African economy whilst best showcasing our work.

Fun fact: Kate did a jewelry sale in the UK and didn’t want to take across heavy wooden displays in her luggage. She reached out to a British carpenter to source the wooden busts instead. He said he couldn’t help with such a challenging project. She was struck by the fact that our local carpenters, who don’t have electricity and only have basic tools, are able to craft these displays whereas it was difficult to achieve in the UK. It made her even more determined to share the dexterity, resilience and talent of rural African artisans whilst growing Mulberry Mongoose.