A family business, Zanzibar Gallery first opened its doors in 1994. Tourists had begun to discover the beauty of Zanzibar and we wanted to offer them a relaxed shopping environment: quality souvenirs, fixed prices (no need to haggle!), and air-conditioned comfort. We started selling ebony and malachite carvings, soapstones, books, T-shirts, batiks, spices and Zanzibar chests.
Javed Jafferji, the son of owner Abeid Jafferji, returned to Zanzibar in 1995 after finishing his studies in London. He joined the business, and after his marriage to Kulsum in 2001, he decided to move Zanzibar Gallery to bigger and better premises in Shangani, next to the post office. Under Zanzibar Gallery. The new shop opened doors on 12th Jan 2002 - the revolution day in Zanzibar.
Javed and Kulsum expanded the business and have sourced beautiful items from all over Africa and India. The shop is now run on a day-to-day basis by Javed’s wife Kulsum and his parents Abid and Bashira Jafferji.
Javed Jafferji is a professional photographer living off the coast of Tanzania in the archipelago of Zanzibar. He has lived in Tanzania, Pakistan and the United Kingdom, where he studied Photography, TV and Film at Paddington College and Salisbury College of Art & Design. His work has been featured in top international publications such as Newsweek, Sunday Times, Independent, Guardian, and many other newspapers and magazines worldwide.
Today Javed heads Gallery Publications, East Africa’s premier publishing house which produces the annual Travel and Tourism Directory in association with Tanzania Confederation of Tourism and its members. Gallery Publications also produce the bi-monthly Swahili Coast magazine, Twende (Let’s Go) published for ZanAir and Karibu Zanzibar published for the Zanzibar Commission for Tourism. Javed has produced over 45 books on Zanzibar and greater Tanzania, as well as an extensive folio of maps, calendars, address books, posters and postcards of Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania.
His company ZG Design, an advertising and marketing company, is based in Stone Town, Zanzibar. The company produces both commercial and professional marketing material. ZG’s in-house design team also produces web and graphic design, creative writing and copy, merchandise and other creative marketing services like billboards, brochures and corporate collateral. . ZG created the web content for the Tanzania Confederation of Tourism (TCT) - http://www.tanzaniatourismonline.com, and the Zanzibar Association of Tourism Investors - http://www.zati.org. ZG also produce material for the Tanzanian http://www.zg-design.net. More About Javed Jafferji