Working With Time

Seconds stand still in the design of Arijiju House, which is set in an immense conservancy embracing the landscape of the Kenyan Highlands.

- Garreth Van Niekerk

A richly detailed yet minimalist design philosophy characterises Kenya’s Arijiju House; it’s a point of view that purposefully leaves spaces incomplete to ‘write a story that is still being created,’ says the project’s designer, Maira Koutsoudakis of Life Interiors/Architecture/Strategic Design. ‘It’s almost like an ellipsis at the end of a sentence in what will become a book you are writing; a continuum of sorts’, she says. Koutsoudakis is speaking via phone from Lagos, where she is completing a penthouse project before jetting off to the Salone del Mobile in Milan and the Spanish island of Mallorca for a site visit.

Arijiju, she adds, has been called ‘the most beautiful house in Africa’ by a major international luxury travel and lifestyle magazine. And no wonder: it took over five years to complete the residential project, which also serves as a luxury retreat for 10 weeks a year, and saw her sourcing interior items from more than 19 countries. Koutsoudakis and her team designed a number of pieces especially for the property too, including a complete range of bespoke sandcast bronze furniture in a limited, numbered collection.