- January 15, 2025
- More articles By Sala Levin ’10
- Photos by John T. Consoli
The multicultural aesthetic of Nasozi Kakembo’s childhood home felt as natural as the groundnut stew her mother would cook for dinner. Impala hides on the walls symbolized her Ugandan-born father’s Baganda tribe, Senufo statues commemorated her mother’s travels in West Africa, and the overarching minimalism nodded to her parents’ time in Germany, where her dad attended medical school and her mom was a fashion model and nurse.
But as Kakembo ’05 got older, she realized that the tastes of most of her neighbors in Silver Spring, Md., ran more to the pastel pink sofa her parents eventually bought from BJ’s Wholesale Club. As an art history major at UMD, she became interested in understanding how the textiles, furniture and art from her parents’ African heritage could be incorporated into homes around the world.
Kakembo’s new book, “The African Decor Edit: Collecting and Decorating with Heritage Objects,” released by Abrams Books, highlights artisans from across the continent, as well as homes around the world that have successfully blended modern tastes with traditional styles.
“I hope readers take away a sense of empowerment to feel more comfortable decorating with African objects,” she says.
Kakembo’s artistic bent emerged early. When her cousin gave her a hand-me-down Barbie Dreamhouse, Kakembo immediately began remodeling the pink plastic mansion. “I started taking shoeboxes and adding additions and stairs,” she says.
At the same time, Kakembo was immersed in various African cultures. Her father had left Uganda in the 1970s during political upheaval, but his family still lived there. Her American-born mother worked at an African art gallery and traveled extensively throughout the continent.
At UMD, Kakembo studied art history and traveled to Morocco and Uganda, the latter of which “felt like home.” After college, she moved to New York City, where she earned a graduate degree in urban planning at Columbia University and worked for an international human rights foundation. On a trip to Senegal, a visit to a fabric market altered her professional trajectory.
“I just was blown away by the sheer volume” of fabrics, Kakembo says. She bought some pieces and “had this whole creative explosion on the plane ride back,” where she came up with designs for pillows. She taught herself to sew, and soon was selling her pillows at festivals and markets in New York City.
Eventually, Kakembo’s pillow business blossomed into XN Studio, a design business that incorporated her work as well as items she’d bring back from her travels in Africa.
For “The African Decor Edit,” Kakembo made numerous trips to the continent, visiting artisans she already knew, and discovering new creators in countries she hadn’t been to before. That’s how she met the makers behind the hand-carved stools, Juju feather hats and wood Bamun shields from Cameroon.
Other traditional objects highlighted in the book include cotton weavings from the Dorze people of Ethiopia, Tonga baskets from Zambia and batik textiles from Ghana. The book also showcases the homes of Kakembo’s acquaintances in Berlin, Los Angeles, London and even her own home in Maryland.
“The book breaks down a lot of backstory behind objects that have often been really disconnected from their origin stories,” says Amanda McClements, owner of Washington, D.C., home decor store Salt and Sundry, which carries some of Kakembo’s products.
Kakembo hopes the book will encourage readers to take respectful risks in their design choices, and to support businesses that work directly with African artisans. “So much has been taken out of Africa without any Africans benefiting,” she says. “This is a piece of the puzzle to right the course of what continues to be a really imbalanced economic picture.”
Issue
Winter 2025Types
Post-Grad