The idea is as simple as it is genius – you take an egg and cut it in different forms. Then you polish the inside of the egg, and the product is finished! It’s the British designer Julia Leakey who developed this product for Khumbulani in 2002, and after this more than a thousand eggs have been exported to Norway.
The utilisation of ostrich eggs is not something new in Africa. The oldest culture, the San Culture, used and still use, pieces of ostrich eggs in jewellery and decorations. This has been carried on by many of the jewellery artists and fashion designers in the region.
The ostrich eggs that the candleholders are made of come from Oodtshorn in Karoo, where ostrich breeding is a big industry. The ostrich industry makes use of the whole animal - skin, feathers, bones, eggs and meat – and the breeding is well suited areas with dry climate, since the ostrich is undemanding and adaptive. An ostrich weights something between 90 and 150 kg, can be up to 2,70 meters high, and live for 75 years! The female ostrich lay eggs once a year, between 10 and 15 eggs. An ostrich egg weighs about 1,5 kilos, and is thereby the biggest egg in the world, but relatively it’s the world’s smallest egg compared to the ostrich chick’s size.
Isandi is a Norwegian company dedicated to win-win trade. Since humble start in 1999 Isandi now trades with more than 50 partners in first and foremost southern Africa by promoting handcrafted products, ranging from potholders to furniture. In addition to the trade activities, we are involved in programs and projects, focusing on socioeconomic challenges in the local communities, exchange programs, design cooperation and networking activities, as well as having a strong cultural component connected to our activities.
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