South African-Congolese designer Adonia Mankou Yanate is redefining African luxury style: and not just for wealthy foreigners. By rewriting the language of design, she is blazing a different trail for young designers.
00:00What comes to mind when you hear African luxury? Safari tents, animal prints, tribal masks?
00:10At the moment the only reference we have for African luxury is on safari. Like if people say
00:14African design then it's when you're in the bush and it's you know those heads on the wall and
00:19like a zebra on the floor and we're like yes this is Africa. Interior designer Adonia Manko
00:25Yanate is here to challenge that narrative. Her work is rewriting the visual language of African
00:31design starting with student housing and a bold debut at DecorEx 2025. I've realized that as I've
00:39been working in the industry that we lean a lot towards what is happening in the West what is
00:44trending in the West and what they say is good or luxurious design but as somebody who was brought
00:50up in the African context and climate I feel like we have so much more to say and I really
00:55want to contribute to spreading that message. Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo,
01:00raised in Johannesburg and now founder of Shumuk Design, Adonia's journey is one of
01:07cultural fusion and creative defiance. Her studio blends African storytelling with
01:13global sophistication, crafting spaces that are both emotionally resident and
01:18commercially viable. With DecorEx being our first kind of public facing exhibition
01:23I've really taken it as an opportunity to really push forward the design that Shumuk Design wants
01:29to do. For DecorEx, Adonia is reimagining kuba cloth, a traditional Congolese textile, into a custom wallpaper.
01:37She's working with artisans to reinterpret heritage through modern textures and palettes.
01:43She wanted to reinterpret a Congolese design onto a wallpaper but she didn't want it to be your
01:48standard normal Congolese design. She wanted her own kind of look and feel to it so we added a linen
01:54textured background to reinterpret the kuba cloth and we color edited the actual design to her specific
02:01colors in her color palettes. You can literally pull any color from you, a pink, a green, a gray, a blue even
02:05and whatever you pair it with it pulls through those colors. But this isn't just about aesthetics.
02:11Adonia's work is rooted in human-centered design. Spaces that respond to how people live, feel and connect.
02:20When we're considering human-centric design we need to realize that we design for people. It's not just for space.
02:26Her latest project? Student accommodation. A space rarely associated with African luxury.
02:32But the space I'm designing is student accommodation which is something that you would not typically see
02:37African references and African patterns inside. And so I'm very excited to show people what's something
02:42I guess Western in a sense and how we can bring that African flair and identity into that space.
02:51Adonia's design philosophy is shaped by her upbringing where Congolese tradition meet the diverse urban culture of Johannesburg.
02:58At home my mom would always say when you come back inside this is Congo. Like the way you behave we're in Congo now.
03:04You know and then you go out into the world and you interact with people and you're hearing languages you haven't heard before
03:09and cultures and interacting with different people from different walks of life. That really came together
03:15to inform what I now believe really is the heartbeat of Africa as a continent and that we have so much diversity.
03:24Her studio, Shamuk Design, means deserving of the highest. It's a name that reflects her mission to elevate African design to global standards.
03:34That's why for one of her recent works she infused the space with brass and light.
03:39When you turn and look into the main area you're met by light, you're met by color, you're met by texture.
03:45The floor is a light color to really bring up the light in the space and is contrasted by the darker walls.
03:52A highlight that I really tried to introduce in the space was brass. It's a material that I really love
03:57and has so much significance in design and even in African culture.
04:02Adonia's redesign of African interiors is proof of the power of design to redefine identity, challenge stereotypes and celebrate African excellence.
04:13We see that even with babies, the first thing that you start to experience is touch.
04:18That's one of the senses that you really start to develop.
04:20And even as we get older, that a lot of things we don't take for granted, but when you touch them, when you feel them, it invokes things within you.
04:28So within a space, you don't want everything to be flat. You want it to have dimension. You want it to have interest.
04:34Adonia Mankoyanate isn't just designing rooms. She's designing a new narrative, one where African luxury is textured.
04:43That's a athleticist but in a certain way.
04:47It's a natural to a different type of design.
04:48So when you're using it, the light color has grown andalon where you see their font.
04:52This looks like a little bit different.
04:55So when you're using it, you can see the light color of the light color.
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