About Us

It all started in Kenya some twenty years ago on our family small holding. Wood was getting scarce and the only water supply, a small river, had become polluted with soap from an impromptu ‘laundry’ upstream. The best way to filter out the washing soap, and make the water potable again, was to use activated charcoal.

The process we used to make this activated charcoal produced a lot of heat, which was then put to good use in the form of a cook stove. We found the best activated charcoal came from burning small sticks, which also solved another issue: we no longer had to buy unsustainable fuel wood to cook with. Now twigs that had fallen from our own trees were sufficient.

An invitation to the Forest School Association conference in 2023 led to the Tawi Stove design we have today. Optimised for efficiency, versatility and portability, this Tawi design combines all the lessons we have learnt over the years into what we believe is the best, most sustainable outdoor stove on the market. 

Since then we have grown the Tawi stove family, designing interesting, unusual models, all of which use free fuel to cook with, while making biochar to enrich composting, or for use as a sustainable charcoal alternative.

The Tawi Stove design can be personalised, as demonstrated by the popular Roller Tawi which was created to honour the 150th birthday of Thomas Aveling, inventor of the traction engine.

Self-sufficiency is not something that we apparently need to worry too much about in the West just yet. However, for billions of people around the world it is a critical part of survival. In many rural communities, where paid employment opportunities are limited, producing at least some of your own food is essential. Fertile land for cultivation, wood fuel for cooking, and water for drinking and irrigation are often very limited. It is vital to make the most of scarce resources; which is where biochar can really help and make a meaningful difference.