What do you do with your cutlery that’s bent with age and use? Do you throw them away or find alternative uses for them? Used cutlery, often considered trash, is a treasure to Njee Muturi; it is pure raw material for his art. Njee is a smith who has carved a niche for himself with his skill of converting used kitchen utensils into outstanding jewellery. 

 

From the village where Art is Inborn 

Njee hails from Ngecha in Limuru, a village famed for producing some of the finest artists in the country. Even more, artistry runs in his family. His forefathers were skilled artisans who passed down the trade to their children. From as early as primary school, Njee was well acquainted with various forms of art. He would spend most of his time in his father’s shop designing beaded ornaments, and was always engrossed in handiwork, even in school. His passion for art even landed him in trouble in school, as he was once sent home for fixating himself on artwork and paying little attention to learning. His father, however, found no fault in his interest in creating and asked the school to let the artist be. 

When the time came for him to pursue higher education, settling on a course was an easy task. In 1989, he left for the United States of America (USA) to study art. In the US, Njee learnt about different art creation methods, including repurposing items, especially waste materials. Remodeling cutlery piqued his interest the most, as he had not experienced it back home. This fascination morphed into curiosity, and he challenged himself to try his hand at this sort of craftsmanship. This marked Njee’s debut in the art of smithing. 

 

Zanji Art 

Unfortunately, art school did not meet Njee’s expectations. He felt like it was not catering to the creative needs of his expansive mind, so he quit school to venture into his imaginative flair and returned home. He mapped out a crafting journey that saw tableware transform into impeccable jewellery bespoken with an African touch. In 1995, his fine art took form, and he crowned it Zanji Art, from the Arabic word for Black Art, a name his brand goes by to date. 

 

Njee’s Creative Process 

Njee sources his raw materials from the US. Once they arrive, he sorts them depending on his envisioned designs, then cleans them before transferring them to his workstation in Pallet Cafe in Nairobi. At the station, he twists and turns the forks, knives, and spoons into different items: bracelets, rings, pendants, sculptures, and even decorative no-light chandeliers. He then engraves unique patterns on the ornaments before buffing them with an oxidising agent to give them a final antique touch. 

It has been almost three decades of Njee recycling old cutlery into stunning, inimitable pieces, and his masterpiece as a silversmith in the industry remains unstoppable. He is not just contributing to the fashion industry as a designer of ornaments and accessories; he is reinforcing the timeless ecological principle that ‘there’s no such place as away’ where we can throw old things we do not find a use for anymore. For this, we laud him for his revolutionary artistry that’s redefining how the industry sources raw materials. 

#KeDesigners: Sustainable Fashion