Walé Bakuku, Generous Like palm nuts

Artist: Boomo Bialé & The Walés a.k.a. Patrick Willocq

At the heart of our food culture in Central Africa, we have the palm nuts, used to symbolise in this great art piece the generosity of motherhood. Giving, plentifully and freely.

Ethos

M.Kala's ethos reflect a strong position in environmental and social sustainability.

Precious metal comes only from certified recycled sources
The gold leaves are also from recycled sources.
The kernels are food waste from traditional, non intensive farmings.
Fair payment to artisans based in developping countries and longterm commitment
Casters are all UK based
Stone mining, even with social and environmental effort is a disaster profiting mainly global companies. Diamonds are used and necessary in many different industries and therefore carry real term value for our contemporary society. All diamonds are lab-grown from as neutral as possible factories such as Sky Diamonds in UK.

Studio practices

Ethical making goes beyond how raw materials are sourced. When measuring the ethics of my practice, I consider my entire making process and how my work space functions. I am working towards improving them but already :

I use chemicals alternative wherever possible and sometimes decide to not use a technique if I can't find the right alternative and master it.
Print and packaging from UK : I source the labels from The Green Label Company. They do a great job to provide 100% biodegradable and compostable labels. The tiny Box Company provides me with recycled gift boxes. I am still hoping to find jewellery box inserts recycled as well.
Electricity is supplied by Good Energy.