Meet Jinja: A blank designer toy, hand-carved to order out of soapstone, in Kenya.

Designed by us and Aardman's Andy Janes, and sculpted by the masterful hands of Aardman's Jim Parkyn, Jinja was created so that we could give something back to the kind people that donate money to the Kenyan Orphan Project - supporting vulnerable kids in western Kenya. 

The Jinja you buy today will be handcarved in Kenya, by our friend Geoffrey Tamaro. Geoffrey is a talented and generous artist, who teaches art to street children in Kisumu, Kenya, and donates some of his own proceeds to KOP projects.   

The design of Jinja is based on a lion, which is either sleepily yawning, cheering or all-out roaring - depending on your mood. His named after a town in Uganda where we begin our fundraising bike-ride.

Polished soapstone is an incredible material to hold, and happens to be perfect for the smooth, tactile nature of vinyl toys... just a lot heavier and a bit colder-to-the-touch. Everyone that have held our prototypes have been amazed - and we're sure you will be too.

Appearance:

The Jinjas seen in the photos are of the resin model that all our handcarved Jinjas will be based on. Because of the nature of handcarving your stone Jinja will have subtle variations in size, shape and characteristics - as well the beautiful unique marble colour-patterning 'fingerprint' of the stone itself. Please don't expect it to be identical to the pictures! :)

Dimensions: 11cm x 9cm x 5cm (approx)

Weight: 300g (approx)

We are limiting the number of available stone Jinjas to 30 because that's all we can physically carry back from Kenya after our fundrasing bike-ride.

The dispatch time on these items is longer than usual because we are only returning from Kenya in early December, and are physically bringing them back with us. You should definitely have them in time for christmas though.

Collection / delivery: If you are in or around Bristol UK, please do select the collection option as it'll save you money - and as we will give you your Jinja personally it means we can say thanks in person!

Please do get in touch with any questions.

And don't forget to check out the other items we're auctioning to raise money for the Kenyan Orphan Project - including 8 incredible Jinjas customised by celebrity artists!

We are super-privileged to have 8 amazing artists, designers and all-round geniuses creating one-off customs of Jinja:

- Peter Lord (Aardman founder)

- Rich Webber (Purple & Brown / DC Funnest)

- Merlin Crossingham (Wallace & Gromit)

- Gav Strange (Aardman / JamFactory)

- Sarah Matthews (Aardman / BernysPlace)

- Sam Hadley (Slumberbean)

- Danny Capozzi (Aardman / Hero73*)

- Peskimo