As a mum, I’m well aware of the potential dangers of wearing a lot of jewellery with small hands around, and these days I find myself wearing less and less. However, that doesn’t stop me being a fan of beautiful pieces and I’ll never turn down an offer to try something out!
I was delighted to come across KUMA design, not least because they use vegan leather in their pieces. KUMA is a design studio situated in Tallinn (Estonia), but they still deliver within Europe and the rest of the World. They lovingly hand-make all of their products but actually the prices are very reasonable. They don’t use any animal products or by-products in any of their production processes or packaging, and the vegan leather that they use has a waterbone coating instead of using chemicals. The leather they use is sourced from soft furniture manufacturers, so it’s using material that would have been thrown away. The company was founded by Mari Ojasaar who is carrying on hand crafting jewellery just like her mother before her.
The principal motif of the KUMA collection is a butterfly, which to me is such a timeless icon that can be worn by women of all ages (and indeed, by men). The Kuma range features lots of delicate variations on the butterfly theme. Each product has a lovely watercolour design with plenty of colours to choose from. Every item comes packaged in a gorgeous black gift box, so it’s a great choice as a gift (to me?!)
The range of products includes brooches with pin fastenings, earrings and necklaces as well as beautiful prints and t-shirts. There is also a range of mini brooches and necklaces for children. Plus there’s an innovative ‘design your own’ option where you can fashion your own butterfly, including as many Swarovski crystals as you like! The brooches are available in a standard and mini size, with the mini size being a perfect parent option.
All of the products are crafted following STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® criteria, so they have been certified as safe to wear around babies and small children.
You can browse the range of beautiful KUMA jewellery on their website.