AD is home to luxurious African-inspired jewelry, handcrafted in the heart of Kenya. With an ethos, a design language and aesthetic, a style and a movement that connects our past, present and future. Our design aesthetic is a strong African Heritage, reinterpreted into modern/contemporary, at times minimal, brand-new shapes.
AD brand is sustainably sourced and ethically made. At Adele Dejak we honour the earth, which provides the material we use for our jewellery and we honour the people behind our creations: from the miners to the suppliers, to our team of craftsmen, to the customers and to the communities all over the world. We are committed to doing what we can for people and the planet.
In creating jewelry, we are keen to use environment-friendly materials. We have been practicing a sustainable, manually-crafted, fashion design philosophy from the get-go. Not only through a critical attention to craftsmanship, authenticity and ethical values, but also via integrity. Much of our jewellery is made from recycled materials. Metals are sourced in Nairobi at metal markets. These range from door knobs, home metal fittings and more. After which the best pieces are then carefully selected for casting. The molten metal is put into molds and once cooled down it is meticulously puffed and polished. We recently introduced 24k gold plating which is done by electroplating our finished brass pieces.
PLANET
As aforementioned, our jewellery is upcycled and recycled. All our raw material suppliers are thoroughly vetted to ensure ethics and traceability. We continuously work towards zero waste at the workshop. Furthermore, we make long lasting pieces so that they have less negative impact on the environment.
CSR
Our Corporate Social Responsibility aims to create job opportunities and additional income outside the company, while keeping important networks of artisans working for the company on full time contracts or monthly incomes.
We have worked with UNHCR Australia in the past. The project involved working with refugees in the Kakuma camp to produce keyrings for UNHCR donors. In the past we trained refugees in Kakuma to produce the pieces to earn money usually to educate their families.
Inspired after seeing our early collections of bags made from recycled rice sacks and cement bags, a coordinator of the Lutheran World Foundation contacted us about collaborating with residents at Kakuma (a part of Dadaab home to approx. 85,000 refugees) and training them to make bags from donated food sacks which they could then sell.
Our tailors and Production manager travelled to Kakuma to train selected refugees and equip them with new skills to earn a living. This was a very rewarding program as it empowered the refugees by giving them a new skill as well as a sense of purpose. AD looks forward to doing similar projects in the future.