Story
Our Founder and Creative Director, Gladys Macharia grew up in Northern Kenya, It was there she encountered the concept of craft for the first time, and clearly honed a skill for noticing beauty in the little things. Her first jewelry project? Drilling holes in maize and beans to string a necklace. Later she graduated to forming clay beads.
Fast forward a few years, and she was taking a beading course on a back street in Florence, Italy, while studying fashion design at university. Italy held great fascination for Gladys as her late grandfather was Italian. After graduation, Macharia worked for internationally recognized designer Ermanno Scervino before returning to school to study fine jewelry and gemology. “This was my eye opener,” she recalls, “when I finally felt I had found that missing equation in my life.”
The budding jeweler returned home to begin her own bespoke jewelry line, Loyangalani, made 100% in Kenya with locally sourced materials.
This is where she first encountered a struggling Kenyan textile industry.
Today Siafu is home to group of weavers in our workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. With a small but growing team we create a range of beautiful fabrics made from organic cotton, all done on hand looms.
Our mission is to grow Siafu Home into a leading handloom textile manufacturer, by training up new generations of weavers and transferring the knowledge of our experienced weavers. By offering a unique style and a product of highest quality we will reach markets way beyond our borders.
