About Our Products

One of the oldest and most traditional crafts in Uganda is hand-woven baskets. These baskets are woven using the “spine” of banana leaves and, traditionally, the designs were passed down from mother to daughter. Today, as more and more women search for ways to earn income to support their children, designs are shared and the craft is taught from one woman to another. New designs may be the creation of the individual artist or sourced by collaboration among ladies with inspiration from nature, fashion, or even the internet. The natural fiber used to create the designs in the basket is dyed raffia, which overlays the bundle of banana leaves at the center of the basket coils.

 

CruciFORMED’s baskets are sourced from two locations. First, directly from the artists at the Friday market in Kampala. Each Friday, ladies gather at a local market to display and sell their creations directly. Second, baskets are purchased (and new designs created and ordered) from Uganda Crafts 2000 – a Fair Trade-certified company. Each work of art may be used to decorate your home, perhaps through a group of baskets in a wall hanging or used as both beauty and function as a fruit or vegetable basket, bread basket, or catch-all basket for keys and mail. However you choose to use your basket, feel great about the good you have done and enjoy the one-of-a kind work of art.

 

Paper bead jewelry is eco-friendly, durable, and beautiful. A labor-intensive process, these necklaces are the sole means of support for many women. Women find discarded papers, cut it into small triangle shapes and then roll the triangle into a bead and glue the end. The bead then undergoes a four-step process to varnish, and, in some cases, paint the bead. Between each layer of paint or varnish, the bead must be dried and then varnished again. Once this process is finished, it can them be strung into the beautiful works of art you see. Do not worry about water hurting your jewelry. The varnishing process protects the paper, making it very durable.

 

Ajuna jewelry takes this long-standing art to a new level. Combining the artist ability of the founder, Jalia, with enhancements made from cow horn, bone, raffia, silk, and other materials, Ajuna produces gorgeous designs using a Fair Trade model. All employees receive lunch each day and Ajuna also provides free childcare near the worksite. Ajuna is perhaps best known for being a supplier for Noonday. For more information on Ajuna, please visit www.ajunacollection.com or find them on Facebook.

 

Long-horned Ankole cows are a common sight in Uganda. From dusty rural roads to the streets of bustling Kampala, the cattle can be seen grazing anywhere a patch of grass can be found – even in median strips of the main roads in the country’s capital! “Traffic” on the roads may be other vehicles or sometimes a herd of the Ankole cows lazily strolling down the street. While these cattle are raised for the beef industry, a number of enterprising people realized the beautiful (and impressively large) horns could be put to further use.

 

No part of the cow horn is wasted, making this an environmentally-friendly product that helps reduce landfill. The process of creating these beautiful pieces begins by heating the horns in water over a charcoal stove to separate the horn from the bone. By hitting the bottom of the horn on a stone, the horn pops off the bone and goes on to be heated in oil over another charcoal stove. Once the horn is heated enough to become malleable, it is placed in a mold under a mechanical press to either flatten it for some products or shape it into bowls and trays for other products. After staying in the press to dry for a couple days, the horn is then cut into the appropriate shape. Then the horn goes through a series of manual steps where someone grinds off the rough exterior, then drills, cuts or pieces together the product. The product is finished by polishing it, first with a hand machine and then with oil to showcase the natural variations in hues and protect it for years to come. The cow horn products you see are sourced from a Fair Trade-certified company, Horn Products of Uganda. For more information, please visit www.hornproductsuganda.com.

 

With the exception of the smoked rosewood bowls, the wooden bowls and spoons are made from olive wood, which grows in East Africa. The black and white inlay enhancing the décor of some products are made from cow bone. The bone is a by-product of the beef industry in Uganda, making this an eco-friendly source of decoration. To create the individual, unique black and white designs, the creators use a batiking process. The olive wood is food safe and if you wish to bring out the natural wood tones, simply apply a thin coat of vegetable oil. The olive wood products are purchased from Pauline, a single mother with two children, who also takes care of her two orphaned nephews. The smoked rosewood bowls come from Rose. Each lady has a craft booth at the Friday market.

 

Soapstone in America is normally associated with beautiful grey countertops – nothing like the brightly colored objects that comprise most of the CruciFORMED’S soapstone products. These items originate from the soapstone vein that runs along the border of Uganda and Kenya. Given its name in part due to the unusually soft nature of the stone, this characteristic allows the soapstone to be handcrafted into a wide variety of products such as animals, tealight holders, spoon rests, angels, and more. The angels you see that vary in color from sand to shades of blush and bronze showcase the natural variation in the sandstone color. After the stone is sourced, it is manually cut, shaped and polished in Kenya. We then purchase the finished product from Shamilla, a single mother who has a craft booth in the Friday market.

 

CruciFORMED carries a variety of African wax fabric products, ranging from essential oil and nail polish cases to travel jewelry bags, aprons for adults and children, canvas lined tote bags, bags to hold all your plastic shopping bags, and shopping bags that zip up into a tidy square or heart – perfect for stashing in your purse for unexpected shopping needs. All these products begin with a trip to the fabric market in the heart of crazy, downtown Kampala. No ordinary market, the fabric market is a maze of buildings with one stairwell and hallway connecting to another, each woven together into a maze that almost demands a map to navigate! Nevertheless, after several trips, the maze slowly begins to formulate into an invisible map allowing us to navigate to the best vendors for the most recent kitenge designs.

 

After selecting the season’s latest beautiful kitenge fabrics, the African wax fabric is divided among the ladies that make these products. Claire and Caroline make the essential oil cases. Caroline and Juliet make the aprons. Beatrice makes the travel jewelry bags. Fiona makes the zip up shopping bags and Mutebi makes the canvas-lined tote bags that will endure everything from a load of books to all your beach goodies! These ladies rely on this income to pay rent, buy food for their children, and when business is really good, pay school fees for their kids. Each item you purchase supports not only these ladies and their families, but also the ministry work in Bulenga, Uganda.