Waya by Dumont

One of the oldest inductees into the Waya CSR program, Shadrack Mungai is a virtuoso in his own right. He began his journey as an artist at the tender age of 25 when in 1994, he moved to Nairobi from his hometown of Murang'a in search of a livelihood of his own. He is now a proud father of 5 and a self taught wire artist that has honed his skills over the years as well as being proficient in bead work.

Shadrack is a very quick study and is one of our top artists for prototyping and experimenting with new Waya models and ideas, not to mention being a specialist at weaving particularly The Bug.

John

Like his friend and colleague, Shadrack, John Muiruri hails from Murang'a where he was born and raised. In 1991, at the age of 30, he was invited by a long time friend that had moved to Nairobi from their hometown, to pursue the art of wire sculpting. Once he was shown the 'ropes', John began his journey by making toys that moved with the motion of the wheels. Soon after, he had a crack at making the legendary Landy and over the years, mastered the sculpting of it.

Martin

The ever cheerful Martin started out as a matatu mkanga (bus boy) in his younger years. One fateful day, his wire artist friend persuaded him to have a crack at making a Landy and the rest, as they say, is history. Eventually, showing a real knack for the craft, his talent was put to the most use by other artists and street vendors who sold the pieces he made in markets across the city. Shadrack happened to stumble upon this young talent and introduced us to Martin.

The now 42 year old is the master sculptor of the very popular Hightail.

Commissions

Il Bisil Rally

We celebrated Jamhuri Day of 2021 in Il Bisil at the KCB Guru Nanak Rally where Baldev Chager took first place and Carl Tundo came in third place to seal his win for the Kenya National Rally Championship.

It was an absolute honour to be able to provide some of the trophies for the prestigous KCB Guru Nanak Rally in the form of our popular WAYA "Bugs" in an assortment of colours.

A big thank you to the Sikh Union club, the organisers of this rally and a special thanks to Mr. Del Mudher, the General Secretary of the Sikh Union Club, for supporting our WAYA program.

Boardroom Ambiance

In 2020, we were undertaking our biggest project yet with the Kitisuru branch of the revered Ankole Grill. For the brand new boardroom, the client wanted to go with something truly unqiue and special. We decided to weave smaller 450mm spherical baskets in the ordinary galvanised wire and in triplet. We opted to have a powder coated finish and chose to go with 'Silver Vein' for the colour.

Glowshift

Together with the boardroom lampshades at the Kitisuru Branch of Ankole Grill, a few other spaces needed something just as unique but not quite the same look. For these spaces we wove a mixture of translucent red beads with pure copper wire to make lampshades glow red when the bulb inside is on.

First of Its Kind

When we got commissioned by Sean & Alyx Walwyn to create a lighting centerpiece that would hang over the bespoke dining set we made for them, the opportunity to create something truly unique presented iteself. After the success with the Kafe UTU copper lamshades, we thought it appropriate to take a similar approach and went with a spherical shape. With a diameter of 600mm, this colossal sphere of woven copper wire truly ended up being a conversation starter for any dinner!

UTU Lighting

We first got the chance to showcase the innovation of the Waya program when we got commissioned by Kafe UTU to create unique lampshades for lighting over the counter and exterior foyer. The creative juices got flowing and we came up with the idea to make a lampshade out of wire. Taking it just a touch further, we decided to use pure copper wire instead of the ordinary galvanised wire. The overall outcome was absolutely stunning, with copper-woven cone shaped lampshades over the counter and huge baskets over the exterior foyer.

Dumont X Kitengela

A Collaborative Effort

Evolution.

Humanity is in a sea of constant transformation that is never calm. We appreciate the chaos of it all and accept that everything that we can and will create always has room for improvement, no matter the magnitude.

Enter Mr. Anselm Croze.

Kitengela Hot Glass is a world-renowned glass blowing factory with an ever growing plethora of amazing glass work under its belt. Not to mention the creative mind that belongs to the man behind it all, Mr. Anselm Croze, who is constantly innovating and developing new and exciting blown glass work. Who better to help us evolve the Waya line of products than a man so passionate in his craft?

It is because of this ethos of passion in one's work that attracted us to Kitengela Hot Glass and a new relationship was born. We took some time out one morning to travel to the ever-so-colourful Kitengela Hot Glass factory for a creative discussion of how to go about adding Anselm's wonderful recycled glass work to our products.

A Social Impact Program

Recycled &
Handmade

Hand-crafted from locally sourced recycled materials, “Waya”, the Swahili word for “Wire”, is a Social Impact Program by Dumont to support an artisanal community of skilled Kenyan craftsmen. The very basis of this initiative is to provide these artists, not only with an avenue to showcase their talents, but also a means to better their lives by being compensated appropriately in an otherwise marginalised industry. Proceeds from this initiative are going towards developing a vocational training centre to pass on skills like these to the eager youth.

Meet the artists

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Commissions

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Dumont X Kitengela

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Each particular model is hand-made by an attentive artist who has, over a long period of time, mastered and perfected the creation of that product only. The pieces, that take hours to produce, are then exclusively powder-coated in an array of vibrant colours.