Our story

I am Stephanie Dawson, the founder of Rosy Doodles Limited. I initially created The Rosy Hanger™ because I needed a solution for how to organise and display my jewellery, especially my earrings (I admit that I love big, sparkly earrings and have a lot of them!). Friends of mine would frequently ask me where I got my hanger, and I was inspired to create a hanger for others. Any woman with jewellery knows that it is difficult to easily organise, display, and store their jewellery in a way that makes sense for daily use, and The Rosy Hanger™ is a great solution.

African outreach

Once I started making the hangers myself, I realized that I could not keep up with the process and the orders. As a result, I looked around for a manufacturer. A business school alum told me about the West Africa Trade Hub, an organisation dedicated to helping 21 countries in West Africa with exporting. After receiving samples from many different manufacturers around the world, I found a manufacturer in Ghana, Africa through this organisation. The manufacturer produces superb, high quality hangers, far superior to every other manufacturer I contacted.

Rosy Doodles is proud to say that the production of The Rosy Hanger™ employs many people in Ghana. The hangers are produced using a combination of machine and handmade craftsmanship. The manufacturer has satellite workshops where work is subcontracted to craftmen and craftwomen. The workshops are usually located in the homes of the individuals who are contracted to do the work, and their families are often involved in the process.

Many people have never visited Africa, let alone Ghana, so Africa is still a mystery to them. The culture is fascinating, and very different to what we experience in the western world. When I first developed the hanger, the product and the process had nothing to do with Africa. Now that I am using an African manufacturer, however, I feel that this component is important to share with you. As a result, in order to help you better understand the culture in Ghana, we would like to share the stories of the people behind the manufacturing process.

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Our Ghana partners

Frederick Akorli is the founder of Von Art Arcade, the manufacturer of the hangers. I found Frederick through the West Africa Trade Hub. Frederick comes from one of the tribes in Ghana called the Anlos, and they speak the Ewe dialect. Frederick studied at the College of Art from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. At Von Art Arcade, he designs and produces handicrafts for the United Kingdom, United States, and Germany.

Kofi and Kwami are shown here at the machine shop, planing the beams of wood into smaller units, getting them ready to be lathed. ‘Planing’ means reducing a piece of thick flat wood to a desired thickness.

Musa is the finisher who sands and paints the wood dowels. Musa used to trade in metal scraps until he changed his profession to ‘finishing’ various handicrafts for exports. He lives about a half hour drive away from Accra, the capital city of Ghana, in a township called Nsawam. His house is pictured here, which doubles as his workshop.

Hans is the lathe turner. Lathing is the art of turning a square wooden part round. One aspect of the hanger that I did not think about when I outsourced the manufacturing process in Africa is that the workers are not able to go to their local DIY store to pick up some round wooden dowels…they have to make them! Hans has no formal education, but acquired his skills from his father, since his family business was passed down through the generations. Although Hans is not educated, he is breaking the cycle; by passing on his skills to his children, he is training and educating them. When the first order for The Rosy Hanger™ was placed, Hans was able to pay the fees to put his children back in school.

Yayra, which means ‘blessing’, is the batik producer. Batik is a type of hand-dyeing process for fabrics. Yayra creates the fabrics in her home, which is also her workshop.

Stanley is the tailor. Stanley was forced to drop out of school during high school when he lost his mother, and his father was unemployed. After dropping out of school, Stanley was offered an apprenticeship in tailoring. Stanley now practices his tailoring trade from his home, which is also shared with close relatives and some other tenants. Stanley was able to use the money from orders placed for The Rosy Hanger™ to settle his long overdue electricity bills, and return electricity to his home.

Sikiru does the embroidery work on the hangers. He operates his workshop out of his house and includes his family in the process. You can see his home and workshop pictured on the left.

Note from the founder

Each of these individuals plays an important role in the production and design of The Rosy Hanger™. I hope that you enjoyed learning more about the origins of The Rosy Hanger™ and that you enjoy the product even more . . . knowing that you have impacted the lives of these individuals and their families, and that your jewellery is beautifully displayed!