The Faces Behind our Handmade Story - Meet Mutuku

Each piece of is created from scratch, by hand. This means that whoever dedicates their time to executing designs to come up with our very beautiful high quality chic accessories must have some attachment/connection to their work and the pieces they produce.

We ensure that you only get the best.

We would love to introduce you to the team behind our pieces in a series called “The Faces Behind our Hand Made Story”. To kick us off is Johnstone Mutuku, one of the craftsmen who’s been with the brand since inception. Being that he’s seen the inception of almost all ideas at Adele Dejak, Mutuku has perfected his skills in almost all areas and he is now good at bead work, sewing, weaving, horn work – name them.

We hope that this post answers any questions you might have about him. Feel free to ask any additional questions in the comments section.

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Who is Mutuku?

I am a proud husband to one wife and dad to 5 beautiful children. I take pride in myself since I strive to give them the best despite not getting far with formal education and being an orphan. Through my curiosity, resilience and condusive learning environment at Adele Dejak (then Magik Grace), I can now sew, bead, create items from horn and paint very well. If I were to tell what my journey has been then we’d need the whole lifetime – I will save that for when any of you visits our stores.

What’s your greatest weakness?

I have got zero tolerance for lateness. I love what I do because I do what I love. This means that I can work really well under no supervision. You only need to show me the desired end result.

What’s your most favourite of all the Adele Dejak pieces and why?

The Adele necklace – This is the first piece I worked on when I joined the Adele Dejak team. I had a lot of challenges assembling the beads and brass pieces and ended up learning a lot. This marked the start of my journey as a beader. I love colour blocking – the piece has a lot of colours.

What’s your most memorable childhood experience?

Losing my parents is one of the most painful things that has ever happened to me. On the brighter side, it taught me how to fight and fend for myself. As young as 12,years, I would knit foot balls and assemble pressure lamps which I would sell in my neighbourhood. The proceeds were what I used for my food, school fees and school uniform.

What profession would you be in another life?

I think I would be an excellent electrician. In my free time you will find me fixing any faulty electronics in my house