The Story Of Kumusha Homeware

My husband and I both grew up in Africa, and one of the (many) things about the place that we agree on is that there is something special in the air. It’s an irresistible and almost indescribable feeling of warmth and life and home that you want to breathe into every corner of your lungs. That feeling, and a wish to take it with me was how Kumusha Homeware started.

We were sitting in the back of an open sided 4x4, driving slowly through the bush at sunrise on our last morning of a safari trip in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. The earth was just beginning to heat up and the beautiful sweet smells of the grasses and trees made me think that I would love to bottle that moment to keep as a souvenir that I could share with others when I got back to the UK. That thought stayed with me over the next few months until I decided to see if I could turn it into reality. To stay true to my original inspiration, I thought a range of scented candles would be the perfect place to start and set about designing our current range. It was so much fun to do, but took much longer than I imagined since I did it alongside a full time job in research. But in February 2020 I finally had my first range of candles and was ready to get them out there. And then the Covid-19 pandemic happened.

The pandemic has made us have to have a complete re-think of how we were going to launch Kumusha Homeware. The original plan was to approach department stores and boutique sellers, but instead Kumusha was launched completely online in June 2020. This has actually been wonderful because we have been able to really get to know our customers and I am so grateful for their support. The pandemic also made me explore options that lead to our partnering with Wolf and Badger. Being selected by Wolf and Badger seemed like a bit of a long shot so when we were selected it was so exciting! Working with a platform that champions small independent brands has been fantastic.

Looking to the future, I can’t wait to grow Kumusha in a way that stays true to my original vision for the brand – sharing the wonder of Africa through ethically produced, environmentally conscious, small batch products. Our name, Kumusha Homeware, uses the Shona word for rural, family, or ancestral home and I hope that through our products we can bring a little bit of that homely feeling to any space, all the while celebrating Mother Africa, and caring for Mother Earth.