The 10 Best Gift & Specialty Shops in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Salem's produces authentic Ethiopian handcrafts for personal and home accessories. Our main objective is to deliver quality designs that highlight the rich culture of handcrafts in Ethiopia while empowering Ethiopian craftspeople. In addition to producing on site, we also stock handcrafted items from other artisan groups. One of Salem's core values is committment to giving a fair return to all employees and co-op partners.

T&H Designs is a small jewelry and bag design business based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia started in 2007 by twin sisters, Tigist and Haimanot. The Gemini Trust, an organization dedicated to helping the families of twins, initially sparked the girls’ interest in making jewelry, and, since then, T&H has grown into a thriving business known for having the highest quality products in the city.

Ellilta Products was established in February, 2012 as an income-generating branch of Ellilta Women at Risk (EWAR) which is a local Ethiopian NGO that helps women find gainful job opportunities after leaving a life of prostitution. Ellilta Products was started to create job opportunities for women while simultaneously generating income for EWAR by producing scarves and various styles of jewelry. Now, Ellilta Products is the producer/supplier of scarves and jewelry for different clients around the world. All profit goes back into EWAR to help rehabilitate more women as well as grow their outreach to bring more women into the workforce.

The sammy brand links the artisan skills of one of Africa’s most ancient civilizations with American and European fashion know-how. The result; unique contemporary treasures, made in and out of Addis Ababa, that have already gathered fans from New York to Tokyo.

Leather Exotica is a leather accessories production company established by Ms Meron Seid in 2010. Our products are high quality unique designed women and men bags and accessories. Our motto is simplicity and uniqueness with functionality. We offer visitors a tour of our workshop that shows how each unit is designed and made by hand. We also encourage visitors to design their own designs.

Talari is a traditionally Ethiopian antique store/gallery committed to collecting and showcasing Ethiopia’s past and present through art, design and crafted goods. Our name is derived from the first banknote of the country printed in the 18th century. Using Talari, we want to channel old commerce, where beautiful crafts, jewelry, and art were valued and traded.

Sabahar is a Fair Trade company that produces export quality scarves, shawls and housewares out of locally sourced cotton and silk. Everything is exquisitely hand made.

ZAAF is a collection of premium leather goods and accessories handcrafted by highly skilled artisans in their facility in Ethiopia. Abai Schulze is the Founder and Creative Director of ZAAF. Her life journey has taken her from an orphanage in Addis Ababa to the United States and the rest of the world. Her passion to showcase the rich cultural heritage of her homeland is evident across her collections. ZAAF’s creativity has been recognized in various ways ranging from appearing on runways at New York Fashion Week, to being featured in Elle, Lucky and Vogue, to receiving the UNESCO Tremplin Prize for Entrepreneurship. In 2018, ZAAF was nominated for Socially Responsible handbag design at the Independent Handbag Designer Awards in New York. ZAAF products are now being carried in boutiques in France, Nairobi, and Ethiopia and the USA. ZAAF will soon open a first of its kind experiential design-and-shop boutique in Washington DC.