MWA JEWELLERY

Not Just Jewellery

Maasai Women Art (MWA) is a social enterprise in Tanzania that creates the most exquisite jewellery, beautifully handcrafted by the local Maasai women of Mkuru. MWA was founded by a senior lecturer at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan; Francesca Torri Soldini, who during a holiday visit to Tanzania observed the plight of the local Maasai women and their community at large.
The main source of income for the local Maasai women of Mkuru was the cutting down of trees at the foothills of the Kilimanjaro Mountain and lumbering the heavy wood to burn and sell as charcoal; which was not only unsustainable and yielding pittance but also causing deforestation and severely impacting the environment.MWA was created to help alleviate the poverty of the local Maasai women and combat the environmental decline. The social enterprise provides a better alternative source of income for the women incorporating their natural skills and abilities, empowering them and transforming their lives and community at large. 
The jewellery collection is a fusion of Italian flamboyancy and traditional Maasai Beading; a marriage of two worlds, designed in Italy by Francesca's design students - who are given a commission as part of their design projects to create designs that beautifully merge both 
worlds - and handmade in Tanzania. 
Each piece of MWA jewellery is exquisitely handcrafted incorporating ancient beading techniques by the local Maasai women of Mkuru, Tanzania.
MWA Jewellery is now 12 years old and is a wholly sustainable social enterprise. The jewellery collection is sold in boutiques, galleries and retail establishments internationally in Switzerland, Italy, the USA and Australia and the UK.