Insights from our Interview with Mama Melta as illustrated by Mariastella Kamuti. In March, during Nairobi Design Week 2025, we set up our stand hoping to share what we’ve been doing with the Samia community around Lake Victoria. To our surprise, people didn’t just pass by, they stopped, listened, asked thoughtful questions, and shared their own stories about their experiences. Many were especially curious about how traditional knowledge could play a role in addressing today’

Mzee Edward Namuye from Busijo Village in the Samia community is a skilled artisan dedicated to traditional craftsmanship. At 76 years old,

Group picture after the workshop at Bumbe Cultural Centre. Photo by Obosh Pixels On 1st March 2025 , a unique and significant gathering took place at Bumbe Cultural Centre in Busia . It brought together elders and youth from the Samia community, providing a platform to bridge the intergenerational gap and revive traditional knowledge. This event, organized by Kenge Content Hive in collaboration with Design Reparations, a Netherlands-based organization advocating for climate j

Ian Francis Onyango with the designers at the workshop during Dutch Design Week. Photo by Cecilia Scolaro This article emerges from an ongoing conversation between Cecilia and Tiago, founder of Design Reparations, about their shared experiences at Dutch Design Week (DDW). In the midst of the event’s fast-paced innovation and speculation about the future, they found themselves drawn to a different kind of inquiry—one rooted in the past, in the knowledge of ancestors, and in th