Furniture has been part of my life for as long as I can remember.
Hi, I'm Kevin, founder of Crafty KE.
Long before Crafty KE existed, I was a little boy spending my school holidays in my father's furniture workshop.
My dad, "Obuya" (as he was known), was a carpenter and businessman. He ran Obuya Furniture, with several workshops and outlets around our part of Nairobi. My brother and I worked there during school holidays—sanding, cleaning, learning the tools and eventually learning to build.
I honestly don't remember being taught carpentry.
It feels like I've always known how to build furniture.
Ironically, Dad didn't want me to become a carpenter.
In his generation, carpentry was often looked down upon as work for people who hadn't had the opportunity to pursue an education. He wanted his son to become an engineer.
So I did.
I graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering in 2014.
But years later, I found myself looking at the furniture industry I'd grown up in and seeing something I couldn't ignore.
The problem was never a lack of skill.
Kenya has incredibly talented craftsmen.
What frustrated me was everything that too often surrounded the craft: poor presentation, inconsistency, missed promises, lack of accountability and the uncertainty customers sometimes have to endure when buying furniture.
I thought we could do better.
What if you could get genuinely good, locally made furniture—and also expect professionalism, dependability and honesty from the people making it?
That question became Crafty KE.
We know what's underneath the finish.
There's something about growing up in a workshop that never leaves you.
You learn that two pieces of furniture can look almost identical in a photograph and be completely different underneath.
You learn where strength actually comes from. You learn materials. You learn joints. You learn what can be repaired, what will age beautifully and what merely looks impressive on delivery day.
And perhaps most importantly, you learn that good furniture doesn't have to be complicated. It just has to be made properly.
That's the thinking we bring to every Crafty KE piece.
We're not interested in making furniture expensive simply so that it feels premium. Neither are we interested in making something cheap that you'll regret buying.
We want to sit in that difficult space between the two:
Well-made furniture at a sensible price.
Premium furniture on a budget.
Craftsmanship shouldn't depend on one fundi.
One of the most important things I've learned while building Crafty KE is that knowing how to make good furniture isn't enough.
You have to pass that knowledge on.
Today, I spend far less time physically building the furniture myself. Instead, we've built Crafty around craftsmen we train to understand how we believe furniture should be made.
That matters to me personally.
My father trained many young men in his workshops. Decades later, I somehow find myself doing the same.
Some of the young men we've trained have remained with us. Others have become excellent craftsmen and gone on to build businesses of their own.
I'm proud of both.
If they grow wings, it would be wrong to cage them.
So when you buy from Crafty KE…
You're not buying furniture from a faceless online page.
There's a real workshop behind the photographs. Real craftsmen behind the furniture. And there's a real person behind the business whose relationship with this trade began long before Crafty KE had a name.
We've been wrong before. We've learned. We've changed. And we'll keep improving.
But there are a few things I don't want growth to change:
Make good furniture.
Price it fairly.
Tell customers the truth.
Keep our word.
And when we get something wrong, make it right.
My father never got to see Crafty KE.
He passed away shortly after I finished university, and I'm fairly certain he wouldn't have been thrilled to discover that the son he wanted to become an engineer eventually returned to furniture.
But I think he'd understand what we're trying to build here.
Not simply furniture.
A good name.
And every piece we send into someone's home carries it.
— Kevin
Founder, Crafty KE