Our Fair Trade Soapstone Products are completely handmade. They are made by a large team of nearly 500 skilled craftspeople in Tabaka, Kisii County, in south western Kenya. By purchasing these products, you help create a sustainable income for many families who are very proud to make these beautiful products.
The products are natural, zero plastic, and handmade using simple masonry tools. Handmade Soapstone products have less than 1% environmental impact from production and disposal compared to non-recyclable plastic or resin products.
The soapstone products pass through a long production process:
First the raw soapstone is mined from the quarry near Tabaka by hand. Soapstone is found near to the surface so is easy to mine.
The soapstone is then cut into manageable blocks. Soapstone is very easy to cut initially, whilst it remains moist, it is then left in the sun and as it dries it becomes much harder. Here, Robert Ongesa, is sawing the Soapstone into blocks.
The Soapstone is then carved into the rough shape of the product. Soapstone varies in colour from white to rose and even grey and yellow and will have beautiful natural colourings and marks that appear in the stone.
The Soapstone is then carved by skilled craftspeople into the shape of the desired product.
Carvers work in small groups with each group specialising in certain carvings. Here Ronald Nyabwari who specialises in carving animals is carving a cat.
The carved shapes are then sanded by another team. Opportunities are given equally to men and women in the village and all craftspeople are helped to set up bank accounts and a requirement is they must send their children to school if they wish to be involved in the project.
The soapstone is then coloured with a natural dye before a skilled team of craftspeople etch the patterns revealing the natural colour of the soapstone with a sharp knife. Here Richard Kerina is etching a floral pattern on a heart.
Finally, the products are polished with a natural wax before the beautiful finished product is carefully quality controlled by the team. The products are then wrapped in paper and boxed. No plastic is used in production or packaging.
#ThinkNo2Plastic #ThinkHandmade #ThinkNatural #BuySoapstone
Proud to be a Zero Plastic Product
Tilnar Art are very proud to have won their First ever award, for the ‘Best New Product’ in the Home, Gift & Clothing Category at Glee 2018 for the Meg Hawkins Recycled Aluminium Collection. Tilnar Art’s Meg Hawkins Collection beat off stiff competition from many other new Home, Gift & Clothing Products. 
The judges, 10 industry experts, commented after Tom’s presentation on its fantastic eco-friendly credentials and also its beautiful packaging and British Artwork Designs from Meg Hawkins. The Managing Director of Tilnar Art, Tom Hawes, commented “We are thrilled that this handmade and recycled new range, which has had such a positive launch with retailers, was recognised by the judges. We are confident that with its quality gift boxing and stunning designs that this range will be a huge success for our retailers.”
Tilnar Art is very proud to be working with Meg Hawkins. The Meg Hawkins Collection combines Azeti's signature range of Fair Trade and recycled food safe aluminium bowls, coasters and dishes with her stunning wildlife paintings. Meg Hawkins is an award winning British watercolour artist, who works from her studio in Shropshire, from where she sells her work all over the world.
A selection of Meg’s unique watercolour wildlife collection is exclusive to Tilnar Art on recycled aluminium bowls and coasters. It is achieved by applying layers of enamel securing the picture beneath, making it food safe. Each product comes in a superb Meg Hawkins Collection box making a perfect gift.
We are very excited about our new range of recycled trashy bags from Ghana. They are made from recycled water sachets, which contain fresh drinking water and are then discarded on the streets in Ghana. We decided to add these fantastic bags to our ranges as we all here at Tilnar Art have a strong environmental ethos and are passionate about saving our planet, especially from the amount of plastic waste that goes into the sea and food chain.
These Trashy Bags help to reduce this pollution as the reclaimed plastic drinking water and ice-cream sachets are not reprocessed in any way apart from cleaning and are then upcycled to make the fantastic Fair Trade Recycled Bags. This has the benefit that very little energy is used in order to add value to material that would otherwise end up polluting our environment.
The Fair Trade Supplier, Tilnar Art, which imports Fair Trade products from around the world, is very proud to announce its link up with the RSPB. From November 2015, Tilnar Art will be launching an expanded range of RSPB branded metal birds. Tom Hawes, the MD of Tilnar Art commented: “We are very excited at becoming an RSPB licensee. We feel the RSPB is the perfect partner for our metal bird range, because customers who like our bird products, naturally support the RSPB. We are expecting the expanded RSPB collection to be a very popular addition to our range.
The stunning sculptures in the metal bird range are hand-made by a group of artists from Zimbabwe. All the sculptures come with an informative RSPB branded product tag, with pictures of the artists and details of how the products are made. The products in the new RSPB collection will range from herons, to red robins and a whole new British bird range that is being developed. All the income received by RSPB in relation to the sales of these products will directly help the RSPB with their work in 
The products are Fair Trade and purchases of these sculptures help provide a stable income and good standard of living for the artists and their families. The reclaimed metal is heated and once hot and malleable is individually crafted to produce these fabulous sculptures, which are then finished with a varnish. Many of these sculptures are displayed in gardens and it is recommended a yearly coat of boat varnish is applied to maintain the sculptures excellent condition if they are placed outside.
