Environment

We are an environmentally aware company. We endeavour to create products using recycled and natural materials through a hand made process.  We consider the environment in everything we do and it has a large impact on the products that we sell.  This being said we are under no illusions and are aware that to truly help the environment it is better to reuse things, not waste things and not buy gifts that you don't really need!  Not very good for business! On the positive side, if you are buying a gift then at the very least Nkuku offers a product that has considered the environment.  We hope that the items you do purchase will be kept for a lifetime, perhaps storing priceless memories in one of our albums and passing them on to the next generation.

Recycled Materials

Nkuku work with a number of recycled materials: 

Cotton Paper

Our photograph albums and journals are handmade from cotton paper.  Created from pieces of recycled cotton, this ancient paper making skill has been passed on from generation to generation.  The cotton is not grown specifically for papermaking; instead, we collect the cotton left over from the clothing industry. It would otherwise go to waste.  The paper is perfect for photograph albums and journals and it is great to think that each sheet has been made by hand. 

Wool

Our wool throws are hand made from recycled wool and finished with a soft felt border.  The discarded wool garments are collected and all the buttons, zips and poppers removed; leaving only the wool.  This wool is then sorted into colours and these colour groups are then ground into a very thin fibre; this fibre is then turned into new wool yarn creating stylish new products to use again and again.

Saris

We use recycled traditional heavy saris; some up to 25 years old to make our heavy sari range. The sari's come in assortment of rich colours made from luxurious silk threads. This ensures that each album and journal is always unique.

Wood 

The mango wood we use is sustainable. Mango trees are initially grown for their fruit but once the trees reach a certain size and age, they stop bearing fruit. It is then that the trees can be cut down and used to create wood products. The removal of the old trees makes space for farmers to plant new mango trees. This not only means that none of the wood is wasted but offers a supplementary income to mango wood farmers. Mango woos is a hard wood that comes in many shades of light and dark.

The she sham wood we use is taken from sustainable forests and is government certified.  

Paints/Dyes

We work with as many natural dyes as possible, such as tree bark and vegetable extract. All other dyes that are used with our products contain no harmful ingredients and are AZO free and chemical free dyes and meet with EU legislation.

Metals

Our frames are handmade from either a mix of recycled light metals or aluminiumRecycling aluminium requires only 5% of the energy and produces only 5% of the CO2 emissions as compared with primary production and reduces waste going to landfill. Aluminium can be recycled indefinitely.

Glass

All Nkuku glass is 100% recycled. Although glass is one of the most harmless materials produced by the world (this is because it is essentially made of raw materials) it does not break down in landfill. Recycling glass not only saves energy (50% less energy than that required to make new glass) but is an ongoing process, as glass can be recycled continually. This means we can create new beautiful glass products with less impact on our environment.