The Immortals: The Crozes-Kenya’s First Family of glass art

Down a winding, heart-stopping untarmacked road after Nazarene University in Rongai, off Magadi Road, you will come across a windswept, God-forsaken township. Not far from it is Kitengela Hot Glass, which the king and queen of Sweden visited in 2005 courtesy of UNEP.

It has been a long, fulfilling story for the Croze family that came to picnic here, only to discover undulating beauty that inspired them to settle and make their home and glass art studio:

Harvey Croze: The man after whom the family name is derived. With a doctorate from Oxford, Harvey came to Kenya in the 1960s as an ecologist who later founded the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in 1972.

The zoology lecturer at the University of Nairobi later became the global assistant director of UNEP in between writing Pyramids of Life and Serengeti’s Great Migration. One of the world’s foremost experts on elephants fathered three children with Nani. The children are Anselm, Lengai and Katerenika Croze.

Nani Croze: She first came here in the early 70s with Harvey, but the Exeter University alumnus followed her artistic family’s footsteps into art, founding Kitengela Hot Glass in 1979, where she has crafted stained glass murals, mosaics, sculptures and artworks at East Africa’s foremost glass art studio, comprising glass blowing, fusing, slumping, wrought iron, ferro-cement, sculpture, pottery, woodwork and beading.

Nani’s work are found in hotels, homes, churches and banks and include the mosaic garden at the Nairobi National Museum and its mosaic wall, besides the 10m x 3m Leopardscape created in 1988 for the International Casino where it remains East Africa’s largest stained glass mural. Nani divorced Harvey and married Eric Krystall, a South African anti-apartheid campaigner and academician.

Anselm Croze: Returned to Kenya in the 90s after his studies in Holland and France. Following in his mother’s strides, the graduate of Business Administration (USIU) ventured into glass art and now runs Kitengela Hot Glass next to his mum’s studio. Anselm’s works are found in leading hotels, including the Carnivore, Sarova, Fairmont, Serena, the Intercon, Ole Sereni, Sankara, Hilton and Kempinski.

Anselm manages Kitengela Hot Glass with his wife, Zorina Croze.

Lengai Croze: The alumnus of Sheffield University followed his star into architecture and after running LC Design for 15 years, he is now head of architecture and planning at PDM Kenya, a leading real estate developer and facilities management firm in East Africa.

Katrinica Croze: She’s a BA graduate in sculpture and design works on tapestries, jewellery, drawing and glass beads.