by Kirstie Maclean, May 2009
To bead or not to bead is simply not a question for paper bead King, Sanaa Gateja.
I am really excited, this week everything has fallen into place. For, I have met a bead king, Sanaa Gateja.
Sanaa returned to his homeland of Uganda in the 80’s after he established his own galleries, worked as a professional jeweller, arts manager, arts teacher, and so much more. He now lives just outside of Kampala on a 50 acre stretch of Ugandan soil, where he has his delved deep into painting in his personal studio, and born a collection of interior decor, fashion and accessory products with his community art workshop named “Kwetu Africa”.
What makes him special is that he works with anything he gets his hands on, as you can see in this photo 
of a fabulous curtain. It is made from a range of recycled and natural Ugandan elements such as died maize (corn), and beads made from bark cloth and RECYCLED PAPER!....Now that is cooler than cool. But, I would say that, because for those of you who haven’t read my previous blogs, Mzuribeads (beads hand rolled from recycled magazine pages), are my thing. Sanaa is one of the leading Mzuribead artists, and this is why I’m excited.
He wants to take the Mzuribead to another level, he has already been beading babes on fashion catwalks, used them in his paintings, (and numerous large commissioned artworks for corporate and NGO buildings), not to mention the bags, belts, table mats, and so on.
To bead or not to bead is not a question for Sanaa, he wishes his workshop to become a bead haven, where a whole range of materials are sourced to create beads, such as his beautiful bark cloth beads.
Bark cloth is made from the inner bark of a tree, and Sanaa has been working with it for a number of years. Pictured in this photo he wears his own bark cloth jacket, which is again part of a larger fashion collection.
Sanaa, with ‘Kwetu Africa’ have agreed to merge with my business, Mzuribeads.We have similar goals and both are in need for strengthening communications, management, advertising and marketing strategies. Together, we will form ‘Somo’, with the main aim to inspire development through artistic enterprises, and allow Ugandans to build economically sustainable futures. We will be marketing ethical products, made from recycled and organic materials, that compete against global standards. Furthermore, develop them to match current trends, so that they won’t become yesterday’s fashions. Such as, Mzuribeads, (a new range of bark cloth beads, a ‘brass and beads’ jewellery collection, interior decor, artwork, and so much more...
Our new site, Somo, is in the making and it will also feature space for artists like Stella Atal, Henry Mizilli, and many more to tell us what they have been busy on. I have recently helped Sanaa to put together a rather eccentric finale for his fashion show on the 9th of May, which we intend to film and post on the new site. So keep reading, and I’ll let you know when Somo’s site is up.
For now you can look at more of Sanaa’ Gateja on You Tube
Also check out: http://uganda.africancolours.net/content/3832,
Recycled Paper Beads http://www.mzuribeads.com/
