My passion and knowledge for African design came from my having been extremely fortunate to have had extensive hands-on experience in travel and tourism and in eventually having been able to weave my experience and passion into my work.

My first inspiration for design in Africa came in 1996 when I backpacked from Egypt to Cape Town and it was on this journey that my love of all things African grew – I knew I had found my passion and my home. The natural scenic beauty, the wildlife and the rich diversity of cultural heritage provides endless inspiration in a vast array of colour, texture, pattern, scent and language. Every vista is a feast for the eye and as I grew to understand each scene more and more, I fell in love with each and every aspect of Africa.
I reflect on this in all my work and my ground experience, my admiration for culture and knowledge of manufacture is something that I draw on in every project still.

This captivating splendour of Africa led me to a 17 year career with the world renowned luxury photographic safari company Wilderness Safaris, working in 7 different countries. Through this I acquired experience in Guiding, Camp and Operational Management, Sales & Marketing and finally
as their Group Standards and Service Manager.

During my last 5 years with Wilderness, I was responsible for the entire groups service standards and guest experience and was involved and managed many building and refurbishment projects through all their 7 regions of operation. In this period I was lucky enough to work with some of the best designers on the continent: Silvio Rech and Lesley Carstens of Adventarch, Nick Plewman and Life Interior Architects. I extended my knowledge, experience and pure passion for the industry through these engagements and I continue to learn as each new project and environment presents its own unique qualities and challenges.