The Studio
Where architecture, material and emotion converge.
Fred Atandi
Fred Atandi is an interior designer whose work is driven by curiosity, precision and material intelligence. He founded the studio to pursue a slower kind of practice — one where a project is measured by how it is detailed rather than how quickly it is delivered.
His approach begins with observation: how a client actually moves through a day, where the sun lands in a room at four in the afternoon, which surfaces will be touched a hundred times a week. Those observations, not references, generate the design.
Working from Nairobi, he collaborates closely with weavers, joiners, stonemasons and metalworkers, holding regional craft to an international standard of execution.
Design is not decoration.
“Every space begins with a question: how should it feel to inhabit it?”
Proportion
A room is right long before it is decorated. Ceiling heights, door widths and the distance between two chairs are the first decisions.
Light
Daylight is treated as a material — measured through the day, shaped by depth of reveal, and answered at night by layered, low-glare sources.
Texture
Surfaces are chosen to be touched. Lime plaster, brushed bronze, raw linen and open-grain oak age rather than deteriorate.
Material
Preference for honest, regional and enduring materials, sourced with knowledge of where they came from and who worked them.
Furniture
A considered mix of bespoke pieces, collectible design and inherited objects, so no interior arrives fully formed on one day.
Colour
Colour is drawn from the materials themselves — bone, stone, charcoal, bronze — used quietly and with conviction.
Function
Beauty that fails in use is not design. Storage, acoustics, service and maintenance are resolved in the concept phase.
Culture
An African contemporary identity held to international standards: local craft and climate answered with global rigour.
Craft
Long working relationships with makers, and drawings detailed enough to protect their work on site.
Recognition & Features
This section lists only verified information supplied by the studio. Awards, publications, exhibitions, memberships and press features are added as they are confirmed.
Awards
To be confirmed by the studio.
Publications
To be confirmed by the studio.
Exhibitions
To be confirmed by the studio.
Memberships
To be confirmed by the studio.
Media Features
To be confirmed by the studio.