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Richard Juma is a soapstone artist for Aina Moja. From the village Tabaka in the area of Kisii, Kenya, Richard has been making a living through crafts since 1994, when he started working as a salesman for his brother in law; another soapstone craftsman.
Richard's introduction to soapstone came while he was still in elementary school. A couple of his friends had a dream of starting a soapstone business, and so they devoted two years to teaching Richard to carve, hoping he could also be involved. Although Richard knows how to work in several other mediums, he still specializes in soapstone for several reasons. First, he finds that it sells well, and second, soapstone is produced in his home town of Kisii, so he can easily acquire materials. Richard also sights sentimental reasons, saying that soapstone is what he first worked with, and he prefers to continue using what he's familiar with.
Richard's crafts have become quite widely spread, within Kenya and beyond. His carvings go all the way from Nakuru, where he is currently based, to Nairobi and Mombassa, where his friends in the Kenyan craft network sell them. Through Aina Moja, Richard's work has also become known in North America. Richard says he takes pride in the knowledge that his crafts could be sitting on somebody's coffee table halfway across the world.
Richard uses the income he makes from his crafts to support his wife and their two children, aged six and four. Juma works together with two other soapstone finishers, Elijah and Lucy, to provide Aina Moja with Finger Bowls, Figurines, Candle sticks and other soapstone products.
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