Our Story

Danaqa is a brand celebrating craftsmanship by exceptional artisans and supporting women-led businesses in developing countries.

Danaqa aims to give oxygen to:

  • handmade products and craftsmanship

  • women-led businesses

  • quality, cultural empathy and design in our products

  • Natural materials or recycled ones

  • Fair Trade sourcing where possible with respect for communities, the environment and artisans.

The Founders were David and Nadia Jones. After 12 years living in working in countries such as Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Namibia and Tanzania they decided to combine their experience of international development, and the traditional handcraft skills and products that they had discovered, into a new ethical lifestyle brand.  Launching in 2011 in London’s Notting Hill area, the business built a wide customer base of people who appreciated the unique and handmade products, and loved to discover the stories they have to tell.

The name Danaqa means ‘pleasantly surprised’ in Amharic, chosen to reflect the feeling our customers have when discovering the high quality, well-designed products made by female artisans in far away countries.

Danaqa has a mission in bringing to market under-represented artisan produced items. Often sourced from rural communities and working with women’s groups, Fairtrade Companies and other producer groups and local businesses.  

The business changed ownership in November 2018 when David and Nadia moved to Italy.

Glenn and Debbie from Eachday Shared Ltd in Stroud, Gloucestershire have been able to carry on the mission and build upon the hard work done to date. Danaqa now has retail space near Tewkesbury and a small wholesale activity. Eachday Shared is an established wholesaler and event retailer in the ethical handicrafts space and Glenn has been a sales agent for several other Fair Trade brands since 2015.

In recent years the supply base has been extended to embrace SWIFT members from Eswatini, Afribeads from Uganda and Calypso from Chile.

PLEASE NOTE : DANAQA.COM IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH US. OUR WEBSITE IS www.danaqa.co.uk