Tabaka: where the hills give up their stone

West of Kisii town, the road to Tabaka climbs through tea and banana farms into hills that carry a rare treasure: steatite, the soft carving stone the world knows as soapstone. Few places in East Africa have workable deposits, and the Abagusii have made theirs famous.

A carving begins in the quarry, where blocks are prised out and split, then moves to family workshops where men rough out figures with pangas and knives before the slow work of filing, wet-sanding and polishing begins. The stone starts grey and soft; it can be dyed, waxed or left to shine with its own deep polish.

The trade grew through the twentieth century from a local sideline into an industry supporting thousands of households — quarrymen, carvers, sanders, polishers and the traders who carry finished pieces to Nairobi and overseas. Carvings from Tabaka sit in homes on every continent.

Our museum collection documents the craft from quarry to showroom, and our marketplace connects buyers directly to the artisans. When you buy a carving through Mogusii, you are paying the workshop, not a chain of middlemen.