Bringing Africa into your home
Our culture inspires interior designers
Africa and its culture today serve as a major inspiration for how home interiors are decorated across the world.
The designs are often characterised by natural colours, ancestral prints, wood carvings and objects made from original animal skin – all forming part of the latest trends in interior design.
Travellers are willing to dig deeper into their pockets for handmade interior arts and crafts from the motherland. This is because the carvings and creative objects are usually exclusive and often not mass produced.
Interior and furniture designer Simphiwe Mlambo said Africa is renowned for its natural beauty, which has a calming effect, and introducing it to your place will trigger “positive psychological wellbeing”.
The 28-year-old graduated in interior design in 2017 and has since been making waves with his exclusive African-inspired furniture designs. “Interior design to me means creating spaces that people can enjoy in their daily lives. Because the world is too busy, we all need to go back to a space where our nerves can calm down, allowing us to feel the positive energy in our veins. A home is a safe space if made to look like it,” said Mlambo.
Here are tips on decorating your home the African way:
Modernise traditional objects
Mlambo said he found inspiration in ihawu, the Zulu shield usually crafted from goatskin or cowhide, which was hanging on a wall as decoration at his home. He said he started making a tray out of it and later realised that it may also serve as a coffee table.
“By taking these traditional objects and modernising them you symbolise the change of time, but stay true to your roots. The modernised objects can be taken to your place in the city once you leave the village, and someone not from that culture might start falling in love with its history,” said Mlambo.
Take nature into your home
People visit the wild to escape the busy world and to find their peace, but imagine coming home to that peace every day!
Mlambo says it’s important to bring your favourite pieces of nature into your home. These may range from flowers to animal sculptures. But be careful not to crowd your space. Leave some room for the circulation of fresh air.
Use warm colours
Warm and bright colours create a big-space feel and may work well in a small apartment. Beige, cream, olive, dark charcoal, and teal are some of the warm colours that complement the use of African designs in a home.
Earth colours are most relevant for African decorations.
He said African decorative objects, including furniture, are in high demand as they are exclusive, and that African people “usually found in markets playing with their talent” are willing to craft an object on the spot or make an imaginary design exclusively yours.
The uniqueness of African art and how it is made keeps it exceptional.
While the artworks are increasingly more readily available at retailers, you are always welcome to get objects and furniture tailor-made.
“I love and appreciate how the African culture, which most of us grew up with, is now a global trendsetter just because of its originality and rawness. I mean, even after modernising it you can still feel the raw texture,” said the designer.