Beadwork in Kenya: Culture, Craft and Community
The art of beadwork holds a place of deep cultural, social, and artistic significance in Kenya. Across the country, many communities including the Maasai, Samburu, Turkana, Pokot, Rendille, and Kikuyu tribes have practiced beadwork for generations. Each community has its own distinctive styles, patterns, and color combinations, all of which carry different meanings.
For the Maasai, for instance, beadwork is central to marking milestones such as initiation, marriage, and childbirth. Among the Turkana, intricate beaded collars and headdresses are used to indicate social status, age group, and marital status. In some communities, women wear specific color sequences to signify whether they are married, single, or widowed. Beaded adornments act as signifiers of lineage, clan, alliances, and much more. These practices within beadwork are passed down through generations - mother to daughter, aunt to niece - along with the technical skills required to create the beaded works of art.
The process of beadwork is intensely meticulous and requires technical know-how, concentration and patience. Each bead, often just a few millimeters in size, must be selected, positioned, and stitched with exact precision. Artisans typically work with needles and strong thread or wire, applying beads to leather, fabric, or string one by one. Depending on the design, a single beaded tassel can take several hours to complete. More complex patterns and larger decorative pieces can take several days or even weeks. Beadwork is an artform that requires endurance and resilience that is built over years of practice. Artisans often sit in small collectives, working side by side, reviewing each other’s work and offering guidance to younger, less experienced beaders.
Originally, beads in Kenya were crafted using natural materials found in the immediate environment. Artisans shaped beads from seeds, bones, ivory, shells, clay, and even stone. Among coastal communities, cowrie shells were particularly prized, often associated with fertility and protection. In inland areas, seeds and bones from hunted animals were used to make beads. Clay beads were molded, sun-dried, and fired over open flames, sometimes painted with natural pigments derived from plants, charcoal, or ochre.
Trade routes that emerged along the Swahili coast beginning in the 9th century brought with them imported beads,including those made from glass, metal, and ceramics. As global trade intensified, glass beads began to replace locally made ones. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, glass beads from Europe (especially Venice and Bohemia) and India had become widely available in East Africa. Their uniformity, variety of colors, and durability made them appealing for artisans seeking to expand their creative possibilities and by this time, beadwork had evolved into a hybrid art.
Today, most Kenyan artisans use commercially produced glass beads, which come in an expansive array of colors, sizes, and shapes. These modern materials allow for greater precision and more complex design work, and they are affordable and accessible through local markets.
In rural Kenya where formal employment opportunities can be scarce and access to stable income remains a challenge, particularly for women, beadwork has emerged as a vital source of income. Artisans are able to generate sustainable livelihoods by creating products that appeal to both local buyers and international markets. Additionally, the beaded goods are widely sold at gift shops in lodges and resorts across the country, as well as at popular artisanal markets and fairs.
For many women, especially those balancing caregiving responsibilities, beadwork offers flexible, home-based work that can be integrated into daily life. This allows them to generate income without having to migrate to urban areas or leave behind their communities. Earnings from beadwork are often used to pay school fees, access healthcare, support farming activities, or reinvest in small-scale businesses.
"My name is Benedetta Tingoi, and I do beadwork from home. I don’t have to worry about finding a market for my beadwork—everything I need is delivered to me, I focus on creating, and I get paid. I’m now considered a lead beader and I supervise other women.
This work keeps us engaged and productive. Before, I was thinking about looking for other options in life, but now I can make up to 10 pieces a day. Beadwork gives me the flexibility to earn a living while still managing my household chores and daily responsibilities."
Benedetta Tingoi (Chumvi Community - NRTT)
“Girls in my community learn beadwork at a very young age. I started beading when I was 8 years old, my mother taught me everything I know. The colors we use in my community have different meanings. For example, unmarried girls only wear red colored beads whereas married women wear red, yellow and white beads amongst many other colors.”
Patirisia Lengees (SATUBO community - Laikipia)
Tujikuze draws from its experience in coordinating community-based production to help brands create high-quality handcrafted beaded products in collaboration with a wide network of skilled artisan beaders across Kenya.
Most recently, women makers in Tujikuze’s artisan network contributed to the Karl Lagerfeld x Amber Valletta SS 2025 limited-edition tote bag collection. Each of the 320 bags was handcrafted using organic cotton fabrics woven in Burkina Faso and assembled in Kenya. Tujikuze's artisans created a beaded tassel that was added to each bag.
Tujikuze works closely with over 120 artisan community groups across 7 different regions in Kenya to adapt traditional techniques into contemporary designs, delivering a diverse range of custom beadwork solutions for global brands, reliably and at scale.
We value the time, skill and creativity that goes into beadwork. As such, our work is rooted in close collaboration with artisan communities across Kenya, and our goal is to support and promote this craft through well-organized, respectful production that puts artisans at the center.
Tujikuze is constantly exploring innovative ways to connect Kenya’s beadwork traditions with the global fashion value chain by collaborating with designers and brands who value heritage craft and traceability.