AfriGadget

Simpsons Carvings from Kenya

This one is not exactly AfriGadget, more like an AfriToy, but we love the story nonetheless. The video reporter Ruud Elmendorp visited the small village of Tabaaka, near Kakamega, in western province Kenya. Below is a video showing the master carvers at work, creating soapstone figures of The Simpsons characters. The carvings are available for online purchase through the CraftVillage website. Please click on the image below to view the video.

Al-Jazeera also covered the story last year, focusing on the economic boost of the Simpsons movie on the village, as it saw an increase in the number of orders for the carvings. It is the confluence of popular culture and African handicraft that we particularly enjoyed when it came to this story. If we had our way we would have soapstone carvings of Strongbad! One day.

PS: AfriGadget will have a monthly feature on The World Technology Podcast, which you can subscribe to here. The first issue is now posted. Many thanks to Clark Boyd, the AfriGadget team is quite excited about this.

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18 comments for this post.

Comment from The Afropolitan Network:::
26 February 2008 - 2:17 pm - :

AfrigadgetI found this really cool carving community in Western Kenya (where I’m originally from by the way) that make Simpsons figurines. Also a BBC article on it. Here’s the official site

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Comment from All This ChittahChattah » Blog
23 February 2008 - 6:17 am - :

AfriGadget: Simpsons Carvings from Kenya

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Comment from muti
13 March 2008 - 4:05 am - :

1 voteSimpsons Carvings from Kenya – Afrigadget23. by thakadu 4 hours ago. Score: 24 (www.afrigadget.com) 0 comments afrigadget simpsons new window

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Comment from muti
13 March 2008 - 4:05 am - :

1 voteSimpsons Carvings from Kenya – Afrigadget23. by thakadu 4 hours ago. Score: 24 (www.afrigadget.com) 0 comments afrigadget simpsons new window

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Comment from Development Crossing
12 February 2008 - 4:19 am - :

That’s fantastic! Who knew the iconic Simpsons could have such an impact in even a small village in Kenya. As you say, it’s great to see the “confluence of popular culture and African handicraft”!

Comment from Taylor
12 February 2008 - 8:50 am - :

It’s cool (knowing nothing about this), I would have to guess they are not paying any kind of rights fees to the owners of the Simpsons brand, etc. I’d ask that we show a little discretion in promoting something like this when what they are doing is most probably illegal. At the very least acknowledge that they are doing this without purchasing the legal rights to even make them.

This obviously could all be a moot point if they did purchase the rights to do it, but I highly doubt it.

Comment from Kevin Murray
13 February 2008 - 1:05 am - :

Brett Murray make a public sculpture in Cape Town with Bart Simpson heads attached to a traditional curio. Somehow, he made these figures look more African than Western, as do these.

Comment from Your page is now on StumbleUpon!
13 February 2008 - 7:14 am - :

[...] Your page is on StumbleUpon [...]

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Comment from Mike
14 February 2008 - 10:25 am - :

Taylor’s comment. At the 55 second mark of Elmendorp video piece, the journalist explains that the Briton got the license from the the film company. It’s right there in the video.

Comment from Taylor
14 February 2008 - 3:00 pm - :

@ Mike

Good to know. Thanks for correcting me. It’s great to know that they took that step, you see that rarely.

Comment from Kenya: Simpsons carvings « Sociolingo’s Africa
15 February 2008 - 4:42 am - :

[...] Simpsons Carvings from Kenya [...]

Comment from hash
18 February 2008 - 6:26 pm - :

I love this story, and Ruud is an exceptional video journalist. It would be fun to do a story sometime on all of the western-related curio products found around Africa.

Comment from KenyaUnlimited Blogs Aggregator » The Afropolitan Network::: » February 2008
1 March 2008 - 7:44 am - :

[...] way of Afrigadget I found this really cool carving community in Western Kenya (where I’m originally from by the way) [...]

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Comment from Simpsons Carvings from Kenya - Mixx
1 March 2008 - 4:06 pm - :

[...] Simpsons Carvings from Kenya 1 vote Vote [...]

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Comment from WTP 188: Al-Qaeda Targets Saudi Cell Phones, AfriGadget, and Yikes…a Global Beer Shortage! « Etherized
14 March 2008 - 11:50 am - :

[...] — Simpsons figurines from Kenya [...]

Comment from AfriGadget - MyBlogLog
15 March 2008 - 6:22 am - :

[...] Modular Machines piece that went up in AfriGadget last… Topics: AfriGadget, Ingenuity, Jua Kali Simpsons Carvings from Kenya – 33 days ago This one is not exactly AfriGadget, more like an AfriToy, but we love the story [...]

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Comment from AfriGadget » ictdchick » musings and meanderings of melissa
26 May 2008 - 2:00 pm - :

[...] The posts currently on the front page feature everything from biodiesel and renewable energy to simpsons toys to mobile phones made from recycled [...]

Comment from Simpsons Carvings in Kenya #Africa #Crafts #Kenya | SocioLingo Africa
28 June 2010 - 7:35 am - :

[...] Read more [...]