George heads up a small, skilled team of brass casters in Kumasi, the busy, fast-moving capital of Ghana's Ashanti Region. He's been practising lost-wax brass casting for around 15 years, having learned the craft from his uncle, and runs the workshop today with his business partner Monica and five other artisans.
AARVEN has worked with George since 2018, when an initial order of around 20 hooks sold out almost immediately — and we've been one of his steadiest customers ever since.
Much of AARVEN's brass hardware starts life not as a drawing but as a small clay model. Amy sculpts many of the designs — including the Chameleon door knocker — by hand, then sends George photos and video over WhatsApp so he can translate the shape into wax. It's a back-and-forth that works better than a flat sketch ever could, letting George capture the exact form and proportion Amy has in mind.
George is married to Afia, and they have six children together. AARVEN's policy of paying artisan partners a 50% deposit upfront — rather than asking for credit — means George can buy materials and pay his team as soon as an order comes in.
He and Monica currently employ five other artisans, and George is particularly proud of a large commission he cast for a well-known musician — a traditional piece depicting a king and his entourage. Looking ahead, George is planning for growth: a bigger workshop and equipment that will let his team work even more efficiently.
Watching George and his team work through the full lost-wax casting process was one of the highlights of visiting Ghana. It's slow, skilled work. A permanent concrete mould shapes softened wax, which is coated in layers of fine charcoal and water sludge, dried, then coated in clay. Once dry, the whole mould is fired in a kiln for hours — usually overnight, when it's cooler — so the wax melts away and leaves a negative impression behind. Molten brass is poured in, left to harden, then the mould is broken open and the piece sanded and polished by hand.
Find our Ghanaian brass hardware collection, made by George and his team.
