At the Design Indaba Festival 2019, seven interior and product designers exhibited their works which comprised various cultures, textiles, and styles.

Kara Schoeman makes use of aluminium. Bright Dimba collaborates with women in rural areas to create his colourful furniture, etc and works hard in product design and storytelling.

Top 7 African Interior Designers

This shows how design is valued in the African world. We also know there are constant changes in all areas of the world and design isn’t left behind. New trends take the podium and Africa is doing its best not to lag.

To this end, there is no best designer but each is distinctive and excellent in what they do.

So if you look to match your love for African fashion in your homes or offices, here are some African interior designers that may influence your choice.

Simphiwe Mlambo

He’s a Durban-based interior designer and a founding member of Circa’s CLAN. Unlike Cira, he focuses mainly on product design.

He gets inspiration from African culture to do his work. In his speech, he says “I’m constantly inspired by my surroundings and heritage and constantly looking for a way to communicate these ideas in a modern context through elegant forms and finishes,”

He got his B-tech in Interior Design from the Durban University of Technology in 2017. He was also groomed and mentored by one of the most thriving design studios in Durban, Gih studio.

Sumari Krige

In 1996, Sumari Krige founded the brand in the heart of Franschhoek, South Africa. She effortlessly blends old with new, designing classic and contemporary styles that give elegance.

LA GRANGE Interiors provides soft furnishings in 100% linens to timeworn antiques, designs customized wooden furniture, accessories, and glassware, and offers interior design services.

EVA SONAIKE

Eva Sonaike is a Nigerian-German interior designer and home décor, expert.

She plays with colours and textiles of historical and cultural roots in West Africa. She aims to position African designs as part of luxurious wear in the world.

Based in London, her brand deals in luxurious textiles, home decor, accessories, and interior design services. Her collections consist of handwoven rugs, printed cushions, etc. Her works can give your office the style and elegance it deserves.

Her excellence yielded her works stocked in department stores such as Liberty, Fenwick of Bond Street, Selfridges in London, Globus in Switzerland, and ABC Carpet & Home in New York. You can also find them in exclusive boutiques around the world.

They are also regularly featured in the UK and international interior and fashion press.

NIHAL LEHETA AND KARIM HAYAWAN – EGYPTIANS

Two talented Egyptian Interior designers are owners of Design Point Egypt. Each of them has likes and dislikes yet they still tried and made the best of their different design styles. Their style is vintages mixed with classic and a touch of art.

Kara Schoeman

Kara Schoeman is a furniture and homeware designer who teams with her father to design useful aluminium art.

As a fan and preacher of recycling, she uses recycled aluminium and wood for her works to keep the buyer aware of the usefulness of recycling.

Her project, called The Ubuntu Mind, is currently exhibited at the Absa Gallery in Johannesburg. This is her most celebrated project that projected her skills in glass and cast aluminium.

Her work has also been exhibited at Youngblood Art Gallery and Gallery on Leviseur.

Bright Dimba

Bright owns the company Dukada. Dukada is a craft brand that specializes in the production and design of unique, handwoven, and colourful furniture products and accessories.

Bright, through his brand, is on a mission to use his love for interior design to do good. His company is based in Kwazulu-Natal and works with women crafters in the town.

His most successful project was the Dukada side table/stool.

He furthermore added, “The product is a twist of the conventional African decorative items found in the marketplaces across South Africa, with bold functionality being the driving component in our design process, it is a craft furniture production.”

Hana Getachew

Hana Getachew, a Brooklyn-based designer started Bolé Road Textiles to merge her love of Ethiopian handwoven fabrics with her job in interior design.

Her love for vibrant colours and graphic patterns, together with her upbringing linked with traditional Ethiopian textiles birthed the brand.

Her designs for Bolé Road are mainly in respect to her cultural views and inheritance and also her view on designs is a factor.