The 3rd morning of the 2024 Bead Hunt was leisurely as it was just a hop, skip and jump to the Bead Market in Koforidua … a market dedicated to selling African Beads or perhaps a more apt description selling beads traded in Africa … as you will find beads from all over the continent there .. even beads from as far away as China, India, the Czech Republic and more…
It was fun to see the familiar site of the market .. a bit changed with new roofs offering more shade from the rather dreary cement block sheds connected together … We headed straight to the Trader Ibrahim Mohamed .. he was as delighted to see me as i was him!!!
@sisiboutique had sent me with a mission … to get some more necklaces that had been so popular in her store from this designer!! He was delighted to hear how well his necklaces have been received in Montreal. I showed him the many compliments sent about his necklace on Instagram. We had a fun several hours photographing the necklaces we proposed for Boutique Sisi .. which Silvia approved!! So stay tuned to many gorgeous African Beads necklaces coming to the store on Victoria Ave in Westmount..
Then we moved on to see Hidir, a Trader that had kept Funky Frog well stocked during the Covid Shutdown… we were, of course accosted along the way and enticed to other Trader’s stores .. where i found some fun new beads … stay tuned to funkyfrog.ca dear clients!!!
With Hidir i embarked on another mission for Beadit, a wonderful bead store well known in Westmount for its amazing inventory of beads … it was fun because Hidir cracked open his Treasure Chest to show me a myriad of gorgeous beads… tantalizing but most outside my pocket book!!! But Steve, the intrepid owner of Beadit with his amazing eye picked out some gems amongst the photos i shot off to him … as my phone died!!! … Hidir came to the rescue with a charger so could relax a bit ..lol
I also found more gorgeous beads for funkyfrog.ca … we then went on to several other Traders .. finding interesting things on the way. We ended the totally amazing day at Garba, a Trader well known to the internet .. He has such gorgeous beads which i photographed to see if i could find a willing client!!!
By now i am totally crashing and ready to call it a day!! So we head home to the wonderful Koforidua Guest House for cold beer and a relax!
Today was amazing! Hosted by several awesome Traders, finding so many treasures!! It is interesting to note that many of the Traders are Muslim men … when you realize in Ghana women are traditionally the Traders for Ghana made beads … The Muslim men are more nomadic and some travel far and wide in search of their spectacular beads. These people are amongst the kindest and gentlest of men i have met in my life. It is an honour and priviledge to trade with them.