Beyond projects: how
we invest back
into the craft.
Two commitments sit at the centre of our studio practice — building our own custom paint colours by hand, and training the next generation of East African designers and makers.
We mix our own paints, in our own colours.
Most of the region's available paint colours are developed for climates and light very different from ours. So in 2022 we started the Mix Lab — an in-studio programme where we blend pigments by hand to build a custom colour library suited to East African light, clay tones and interiors.
Every colour in the Mix Lab library is tested on-site across multiple rooms and times of day before it's added to a project palette. Several of our signature tones — including our terracotta-clay and papyrus-green bases — are now available directly through our Shop.
Shop Mix Lab ColoursFrom pigment to palette
Source
Natural and mineral pigments are sourced from regional suppliers wherever possible.
Mix
Our in-house colourist blends small batches by hand, testing against local light conditions.
Test
Swatches are trialled on real walls across different rooms and times of day before approval.
Apply
Approved colours join our library and are used across client projects and our Shop.
Training the next generation of East African designers.
Good design talent shouldn't have to leave the region to find opportunity. Since 2021, our studio has run a standing internship programme for design, architecture and horticulture graduates and students across Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda.
Interns are paired one-to-one with senior designers, rotate through interiors, gardens and the Mix Lab, and leave with a portfolio of real client work. Several of our current studio leads — including our Head of Interiors — started as Mix Lab interns.
Apply For An Internship"I joined as a Mix Lab intern straight out of university, not knowing what direction I wanted my career to take. Two years later I'm leading our interiors team. This studio actually invests in the people it trains." — Daniel Okello, Head of Interiors, former Mix Lab intern