The Kenyan Collection comes from a collaboration among business people and artisans showcasing the wonderful and diverse culture that is Kenya. The goal is to provide people a greater opportunity to share their talent and improve their lives. 

To create these fanciful birds, the artisan and his family use trimmings from jacaranda trees on nearby tea plantations in Kenya. The artist carves sitting in an old car seat near his home while his wife does the painting in a little workshop nearby.  When things get busy the children help out when they are not in school. The bird mobiles consist of 3 strings of birds (with 4 birds on each string) and one bird on top perched on a natural twig.  No two are alike. All of the birds are fashioned after North American birds,  except one which is a Kenyan bird. The artist also creates mobiles of one large single bird or a trio of birds perched on a twig as well as owls, pheasants, cardinals, blue jays and a mallard duck. While we do not call the bird’s weather proof, we know they are at home in the outdoors because when Joan of The Kenyan Collection visited an artist's family, she enjoyed the wonderful sight of these birds hanging from trees near their home drying in the Kenyan weather. The artist smiled proudly when he was told by Joan that he must be putting a little bit of magic in each creation. That is due to the fact that when people see them, they just gaze at them with a big smile . . . trying to pick which one they want to take home. Learn more about this artist's family here.

IMPORTANT NOTE: These items ship directly from the distributor and arrive separately from other ordered items at the Land of PureGold. It is recommended that if other types of items are desired that the orders be placed separately. The line is only available for shipment in the United States.  Most items cannot be shipped to a PO Box.

Hand Carved Wooden Bird Mobile   Price $30 Mobiles have 3 strings of birds with 4 birds on each strip, and one bird perched on the main twig. They include a mix of North American and African birds. Though not entirely weather proof, they are weather resistant. Brighten up the corner of any room with a string bird mobile. Carved wooden American birds painted in lovely colors sit on or hang from sticks and move gently in the wind. Hang 3 or 4 together to create your own colorful aviary. Each one has something special that makes it unique.

Hand Carved Wooden Individual Birds    Carved and painted by the same artisans that creates the birds for our bouquets and mobiles, these birds are larger and stand on a shelf or mantle. All are approximately the size of the actual bird.
Mallard Duck $50	Owl $22	Ring-Necked Pheasant $50

The income from the sales of these birds has enabled this family to re-enroll their eldest son in school. The children had been withdrawn from school when he lost his job as a truck driver for a company that closed.  With 30% unemployment he worried about how he was going to support his family. He went to the big open air market in Nairobi and studied all the activities, determined to find a way to generate income. He realized that he had learned wood carving in school as a young boy and decided to try and renew his carving skills. The folks from The Kenyan Collection found him selling a smaller version of the mobiles on the outskirts of the market (the wait to get an official spot in the market can be long). They gave him some suggestions for improving his product, a bird book for reference and some new paint brushes for his wife. This family has have delivered orders without fail and their products seem to get more beautiful with each order.