A JULY 2025 EDITION

The urge to be everything to everyone often backfires so fast. Instagram used to be chill, people shared their lives without overthinking it. Then came the era of curated perfection, and suddenly everyone froze with perfection paralysis. Snapchat brought Stories, TikTok brought Reels, Twitter gave us Threads—and Instagram tried to be all of them. In the process, it lost what made it special. My community faded in the abyss. Now it’s scattered, quiet, and filled with silent eyeballs.

There’s a grounded honesty to rammed earth construction that concrete just can’t imitate. In the Ubikwiti House, Every sedimentary layer, compacted and pressed, tells a story of patience, time, and place.

From the outside, the home stands firm—minimal, geometric, almost fortress-like. But step inside and everything shifts. Light pours through oversized glass panels, brushing the textured walls and softening their weight. The interiors are a lesson in balance: heavy earthen walls offset by airy courtyards, sharp lines warmed by natural finishes, and utilitarian forms brought to life through lush plantings and bespoke detailing.

Designed by Senegalese-Italian architect Fatiya Diene Mazza, this home challenges the dominance of concrete and steel in African luxury architecture. It insists that luxury can be local, that sustainability doesn’t mean sacrifice, and that African modernism deserves its own vocabulary, anchored in material memory and cultural specificity.

Singita Boulders Lodge is a masterclass in how interior architecture can surrender to nature without losing intention. Organic lines echo the surrounding bush, while boulders, timber, and thatch are left raw, refined into statement elements. As an interior designer, I see this as the kind of space where the bones of the earth become the blueprint. It’s a call to create more honestly—with reverence for place, and restraint in form.

Look closely and you'll see the true seduction of this lodge lies in its textures. Plastered walls in tonal greys, looped wool rugs underfoot, hand-hewn timber stools, woven accents that feel familiar—yet elevated. It reminds me that the best interiors aren’t about how much we add, but how carefully we select.

There’s an energy here that whispers rather than shouts; perfect for the woman who’s done the world, and now seeks beauty with depth. This space feels like an invitation to recalibrate your own home, your own pace, your own palette. If you’ve been craving a more grounded, sculptural, sensorial approach to living… this is the blueprint. It reminds me that African luxury doesn’t need to borrow anything from anyone.

There’s something intimate about a home designed by one’s father—especially when it becomes a canvas for your life’s work. Cheick Diallo’s modernist villa, originally designed in the 1960s by his architect father. The arched windows, the crisp geometry of tiled floors, the sculpted ceiling grid… everything tells a story of restraint, rhythm, and inherited design language

Diallo’s signature pieces—bold, skeletal, sculptural—blur the line between art and function. His chairs, loungers, and woven forms are architectural in silhouette yet deeply human in scale. They catch light like jewellery, yet invite rest like old friends. Red lacquered steel, basketry patterns, unapologetic curves… How far can we stretch the idea of comfort into something more sensorial, more surprising.

Red, black, indigo and terracotta hold space against pale tiles and raw walls. There’s no fear of saturation here. For the woman who’s no longer decorating for approval, this is a space that whispers, Do it your way. Mix structure with soul. Tradition with risk. Form with boldness.

Sometimes, putting your work out there is the bravest and best thing you can do. A while back, I began sharing reflections on Kenyan design identity;- a quiet series that found its way into the right corners of the internet. One of those corners? TikTok. And unexpectedly, the Chairman of the AAK (Architectural Association of Kenya) saw it, resonated with it, and tagged me into a project that now has me thinking deeply about soapstone, as material and concept. Now, I’m working on a project I never saw coming, which allows me to weave cultural storytelling into real spaces.

With a new week comes a new studio obsession. I invite you to click on my select texture of the week image above—Rammed Earth Sediments —to see what’s inspiring us this July. I’ll see you next week, my friend.