Venerable bead
Beads in Ghana are painstakingly made and beautifully coloured, but also mark the cycle of life
Hold in your hand a single Ghanian glass bead. Look at it closely. It is not a mass-produced product. To hold a Ghanaian bead is to hold an object of cultural significance and beauty. It is a form of art most people don’t stop to think about, but it’s one that requires an incredible amount of time and effort. Firstly, glass bottles are collected by trucks and taken to a bead factory, typically not much more than a cleared area large enough for domed kilns and an outdoor painting workshop (often housed under a large wicker roof). One such producer is TK Beads (off the Dodowa-Accra road, near Christian University College, Amrahia). It has been producing beads for over 30 years, a blink of an eye when you consider the craft itself goes back at least five centuries. Once the glass bottles arrive, they are sorted, broken up and crushed into a powder to be transferred into clay moulds. The moulds are then placed in the kiln where the liquid glass takes the shape of the mould depression. On leaving the kiln, the beads are cooled and placed on a long skewer. They are then meticulously hand-painted, one by one. Decorated in a vast array of different colours and patterns, the detail added to each bead is a marvel of skill and patience.
If you are interested in buying some beads, you can find them all over Accra, from markets to upscale boutique stores, but it is worth going to a bead factory such as TK Beads, doing the tour and then buying your beads straight from the factory shop. They are sold on long strands of string rather than individually.
A Ghanaian tradition involving these beads happens at baby naming ceremonies. The child is bestowed with beads which are tied around the baby’s waist, neck and ankles. The idea is that when the baby grows, the tightness of the bead necklace (on waist or wrist) indicates how healthy he/she is. These days more sentimental than practical, ‘baby beads’ are nonetheless kept as special keepsakes, and it is still very much a tradition for a grandmother to give her grandchild necklaces when they are born
Where to find beads
TK Beads - Off the Dodowa-Accra road, near Christian University College, Amrahia
Cedi Beads - Krobo Odumasi
Sun Trade Beads - Located at C522/3 Mango Tree Avenue, Asylum Down (see Shopping)
Ghana Nima Tours - http://ghana-nima-tours.yolasite.com/.
