Inspired by her own visit to Africa, Toronto-based designer Karin Bennett has collaborated with Azizi Life artisan partners to create a new collection of neutral, organic pieces with a natural finish.
Shop the Collection
Bring the signature aesthetic of the Karin Bennett Designs Collection into your home with neutral colors and organic textures of the artisans’ handcrafted goods.
NEUTRAL COLORS
Featuring wooden products finished with the artisans’ innovative all-natural soot finish.
ORGANIC TEXTURES
The locally-grown wood is carved into vessels perfect to bring organic interest to your home.
LOVE THE SPACE YOU LIVE IN
From their hands to your home, add to the love and beauty of your space with ethically-sourced pieces from our artisan partners.
Hand Carved Elube Bowls
Karin worked with woodcarver Jabiro and the Azizi Life team to develop the 6 inch Elube Bowls in three finishes. The bowls are carved from local Musave wood and finished with all-natural polishes.
Hand Carved Zanaibo Bowls
Adding interest, variety and texture, the 9.5 inch Zanaibo Bowls from the Karin Bennett Designs Collection are carved from a single piece of Musave wood using hand-hewn tools.
About The Designer
Meet Karin Bennett
Karin is the owner and principal designer at Karin Bennett Designs, a Toronto-based interior design firm. Karin says, “We believe in designing homes that reflect our clients’ lifestyle while incorporating the much-loved KBD signature aesthetic of blended neural colors and organic textures.”
Karin’s family sponsors four children in Malawi through World vision. The family’s first visit to Africa meeting three of their sponsored children ignited Karin’s passion for the people of Africa. Partnering with Azizi Life was a natural fit. Karin named her product designs after the children they met in Malawi: Elube, Zanaibo and Yamikani.
Karin shares, “We are always looking for textured bowls and trays with a handmade feel in varying stains for our projects. We imagine these custom pieces in any room of the home, placed on bookshelves, coffee tables, dressers and console tables.”
About The Artisans
Designed For Impact
Wood carver Jabiro Jean de Dieu is a member of the KIIUKA carving cooperative.
Jabiro worked through many rounds of samples to refine the shape, size, and finish of the bowls and trays in the Karin Bennett Designs Collection.
When Karin presented a design concept with a dark finish and an organic look, Jabiro stepped up with an amazing innovation: soot finishing! The dark and medium finishes of the KBD bowls is made using soot from wood and charcoal cooking in local outdoor kitchen houses.
The bowls are crafted from the wood of the Musave tree, a local plant which re-grows after it has been cut. The bowls are carved using hand-hewn carving knives at the artisans’ workshops.
Pictured Above: Faustin Nemeyimana of Inganzo Cooperative
Our Artisan
Partners
Across the hills of Rwanda, groups of rural artisans are working to bring hope to their families through skillfully handcrafted goods. Azizi Life partners with over 60 independent groups- a total of over 760 artisan partners. Rising from the horrors of genocide, artisans from all backgrounds have joined together once again through their craft. Each artisan cooperative specializes in hand crafting products using specific techniques and raw materials. Azizi Life is honored to partner with these women and men, collaborating to connect makers, designers, and customers around the world.
Our
Products
We love serving your vision for beauty and meaning in the gifts you give, what you wear, and how you decorate. Azizi Life serves as a bridge, partnering with artisans and designers to offer high quality, ethically-sourced goods for life and gifting. Products are crafted by hand using local, natural, and renewable materials. Our modern and traditional collections include baskets, woven bowls, home décor, tabletop, woven jewelry, and bags. Azizi Life offers products to US customers from our warehouse in Exton, Pennsylvania, as well as FOB sales directly from Rwanda.
Our
Mission
Azizi Life is a fair trade organization which partners with Rwandan artisans to bring beautifully designed, hand crafted goods to the world. As a not-for-profit organization, Azizi Life is dedicated to the wellbeing of our artisan partners and their families. In addition to opening economic opportunity through fair trade, Azizi Life invests in a range of community impact projects. Our Rwandan-led team facilitates adult literacy classes and offers other practical resources for personal, spiritual, and economic growth.
