From the nondescript workshop, she produces extraordinary jewellery that has become favourite accessories for many of her customers locally and abroad.
As she was starting the company, she incorporated a local artisan who trained her on the art of making jewellery.
If she was to succeed, she reasoned, she had to sharpen her skills and her family’s hotel offered the perfect training ground.
For as long as Lucille Nyikuri can remember, she has always been in love with art. As a child was awed by the beauty of the jewellery pieces her mother made for export. From simple materials, came awe-inspiring pieces of wearables that fetched a tidy sum of money for her family.
“I grew up seeing all these beautiful African art that captured my soul,” Ms Nyikuri says.
As she grew up and nurtured other interests, her one true love was always art. Not even when she was admitted and became an advocate of the High Court did her passion waiver. If anything, it seemed to grow.
For a while she had noticed a gap in the market for well-crafted African jewellery. The demand was high, but simply there were few jewelers making exceptional pieces.
And so she founded Lukagwa African Art & Jewellers, a company that assembles recycled beads into wearable pieces of art such as bracelets, necklaces, hair accessories, and earrings.
When she is not handling legal issues, she is tucked away in her little workshop in Nairobi’s South B creating, and marketing African handmade jewellery.
From the nondescript workshop, she produces extraordinary jewellery that has become favourite accessories for many of her customers locally and abroad.
Ms Nyikuri may have grown around jewellery, but she had to hone her skills.
As she was starting the company, she incorporated a local artisan who trained her on the art of making jewellery.
“I took a keen interest and learned about the materials, ways of making jewelry and the historical importance of this art.”
Her journey was not complete without learning how to run a business. She had seen several talented artists’ companies take flight only to crash because they lacked the business skills.
If she was to succeed, she reasoned, she had to sharpen her skills and her family’s hotel offered the perfect training ground.
“I learned how to deal with people and manage a business. I made my first attempt to start the jewellery business in 2006,” the University of Nairobi graduate says.
She has also brought the entrepreneurship skills she acquired from diploma course at the United States International University Africa to bear in her business.
She says she invested Sh20,000 into the business that she sourced from friends as well as from her own savings.
With the capital, she bought tools, beads, wires and threads to enable her to start the jewellery business.
Initially, she sold the pieces to friends and her mother’s workmates through word of mouth. This helped grow her network through referrals.
“I found myself being invited for exhibitions at embassies and malls.”
The process of making the jewelry begins at her workshop when materials arrive from suppliers, most of them women, a decision she consciously made to empower young women.
The recycled materials are then sorted, washed and smelted to be turned into various beads for jewelries, she explains.
“We use locally made beads from cow horn, cow bone, Masai, brass, Kitengela glass, coconut, and the Trade beads of West Africa.
“We do casting, wire art, beading and plaiting to end up with the final product,” Ms Nyikuri says.
The jewelry prices range from Sh4,546.08 ($40) to Sh10,228.7 ($90), targeting middle-class women and men in Kenya and around the globe.
“(We target) middle-class women above 35 years and men over 40 years. In the overseas market, it is mostly women over 50 years old.”
To increase her firm’s visibility, she also runs an online store on Etsy that mostly targets the overseas market. She also leverages on social media platforms to attract more customers.
To be able to bring traction to the online store and establish a market base overseas, she attended exhibitions in New York, from 2015 to 2017.
“I also participated in different juried shows that exposed me to renowned artists namely Sekou Ra who taught her how to work with silver.”
“The whole idea was not only to create exposure for the Lukagwa Brand but to also market Kenya,
“Our exhibition space was an expression of our creativity and culture. Every item was handcrafted to tell the African and Kenyan story.” She says.
The company employs three staff directly and supports 10 others indirectly under production, distribution, marketing and sales.
She prides in accessorising ‘Muthoni the Drummer Queen’ when she was performing in one of the State’s national events.
