Laikipia,
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
KNA by Sarah Mong’ina
Woodwork is a form of cutting wood with a knife or mallet resulting in a wooden model. Cedar and mahogany are commonly used for woodcarving in Nyahururu since they are the most common type of wood.
David Chalo, a curio shop owner near Thompson Falls gave an insight on how woodcarving has been his major source of income. After completing his high school studies, he was not fortunate to pursue further studies. Since his father was already into woodcarving, he introduced him to his business which he inherited, and has been his source of livelihood since.
He said that the work is not for the faint-hearted. One must have creativity and patience while doing the work because the process is challenging. It involves choosing the ideal wood, and making designs while using precision measurements and a chisel to scrape out unwanted areas in the design.
“This work needs skills, originality, and tolerance if you want to excel as a woodcarver. The wood must be soft and strong at the same time keeping in mind correct computation. This is in order to achieve a finished product”, he said.
He added that people make orders of sculptures which is much better than waiting for customers who are mostly tourists to come to the shop. His recent order was The Big Five animals ordered by Nyahururu Golf Club which is due on Thursday. He mostly depends on these local requests since tourists visit the Nyahururu Thompson falls seasonally running from the month of June to August and later from December to February.
“I make more income when people make orders of sculptures rather than waiting for buyers to come to the shop. Most of my customers are tourists who are not reliable since they come in June to August and then in December to February,” he added.
He mentioned that he is planning to take this venture into the international market by introducing the business to social media platforms. This will increase his clientele as well as market his artwork. It will enable him to stop relying more on tourists who visit Thompson Falls seasonally.
“I am making arrangements to take my business to an International level by making my work known via social media platforms. I believe this will widen my market and increase my clients,” he said.
