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YEWO

Manchewe Village, Malawi

yewo-workshop-malawi-jewellery-craft-art

The YEWO Team

YEWO creates honest and beautiful jewellery through small scale productions, while providing a sustainable income for the people in Malawi who help to create the pieces. Obsessed with design and technical processes, almost all of the team are self-taught. Many of them were previously not in formal employment, nor did they have access to a reliable income or knew a single thing about making jewellery. By sharing their skills and through training, there was an opportunity to open up a new market, whilst giving back to the local community.

The YEWO workshop sits in the mountainous rural village of Manchewe in northern Malawi. It overlooks the great rift valley making it a beautiful setting in which to create, but it comes with it's own challenges of rural living, such as a lack of electricity and water. But what they lack in resources, they make up for with creative solutions and a tonne of positivity. The workshop lies at the heart of the YEWO family, where they gather together each day as a small family to problem solve, create and laugh.

YEWO has created employment in an area where 95% of the people are either unemployed or work informally on one off jobs. Through responsible manufacturing, their goal is to generate income and uplift individuals living in rural poverty, while celebrating their craft. The team works together closely, depending on each other to be successful, sharing responsibilities, collaborating and creating a social business built on mutual trust.

YEWO truly believes in valuing their people and provides them with living wages that are at least two times higher than the national minimum wage in Malawi. They have also created a savings programme to enable the artisans to invest in their children's education and construction of homes. They are provided with two meals a day, healthy working conditions, healthcare, job training and paid time off.

It is also important to YEWO that a portion of sales are invested back into the local community development initiatives, and to reduce their carbon footprint, they strive to source locally wherever possible.

By choosing a YEWO product, you are supporting and fostering all of these values.

Shop our YEWO jewellery collection here.

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