The Female-Led Interior Design Studios Shaping South African Style

Meet the female-led interior design studios shaping South African style, from luxury residential spaces to art-led interiors and contemporary design.

By Vuya Maqubela | August 21, 2026 | Category design

South Africa has no shortage of exceptional interior designers, but a few female-led studios are giving the local design scene a particularly distinctive point of view. From modern homes to richly layered hospitality spaces, these designers are proving that great interiors are about more than beautiful things.

They are about how a space feels, functions, and lives.

Here are some of the female-led interior design studios in South Africa worth knowing now.

The Private House Company: Yvonne O’Brien

There are a few brands that are as closely associated with understated luxury as The Private House Company, founded by Yvonne O’Brien. Her Johannesburg- and Cape Town-based studio has built a reputation for interiors that feel sophisticated without becoming too formal.

The approach is restrained: natural light, quality materials, collected furniture, and layers of texture that come together to create homes that feel personal. The studio works across residential projects, lodges, and boutique hotels, with a portfolio that includes properties such as Londolozi and homes in Clifton, Hyde Park, and the Cape Winelands.

Understated luxury is at the heart of Yvonne O’Brien’s work, where tactile materials and collected pieces create interiors that feel sophisticated.

NAIA Interior Atelier

With a presence in both South Africa and Paris, NAIA brings a more pared-back, architectural sensibility to interior design. The studio specialises in residential, commercial and hospitality projects, with an emphasis on meticulous planning and precise execution.

Their interiors are polished without feeling cold, making NAIA a strong example of the direction contemporary luxury design is taking: fewer obvious statements, better materials, and spaces designed to last.

With a distinctly architectural approach, NAIA Interior Atelier creates refined spaces where exceptional materials and meticulous detailing do the talking.

Loredana Morton Interiors

For Loredana Morton, luxury is in the detail. The Cape Town studio combines a modern European sensibility with what it describes as an African soul, creating interiors that are layered, tactile, and individual.

The residential portfolio includes projects across some of the country's most sought-after estates and addresses, including Val de Vie, Stonehurst, Pearl Valley, and Kommetjie.

What makes the work particularly compelling is its balance: strong architecture and contemporary finishes are softened with texture, art, and warmer materials.

Loredana Morton’s interiors bring together Italian heritage, African materiality, and a love of sculptural form, texture,and bespoke detail.

Artep Studio: Petra Maierhofer

Artep Studio sits somewhere between interior design collaborations, art, and collectible furniture. Founded by Petra Maierhofer, the Cape Town studio creates bespoke artworks and interiors with a strong emphasis on craftsmanship, materiality, and sculptural form.

Maierhofer's Austrian roots meet a distinctly South African design context, producing work that can move from minimal to expressive. The studio's handmade wall art, sculptural pieces and custom installations have featured in residential and hospitality projects, including work connected to One&Only Cape Town.

Petra Maierhofer uses sculptural forms, handmade pieces, and rich materiality to give spaces a distinctive visual language.

Sarah Ord Interiors

If minimalism isn't your thing, Sarah Ord Interiors offers a much more playful alternative. Ord's signature is colour, pattern, and the art of mixing old and new.

Her Cape Town studio describes its work as layered and characterful, with projects spanning private homes, hotels, guesthouses, bars, and safari lodges across South Africa and beyond.

This is a studio that portrays luxury with personality. Think collected objects, unexpected colour combinations, antiques, art, and interiors that don't take themselves too seriously.

Colour and personality define Sarah Ord’s interiors, where antiques, art, and contemporary pieces are brought together in rooms that feel collected.

Michele Throssell Interiors

Based in KwaZulu-Natal, Michele Throssell has built an impressive body of work across luxury homes, hospitality, and safari properties. Her interiors have a strong connection to their surroundings, often pairing natural materials and organic textures with contemporary European influences.

Her work at properties such as Nambiti Hills Lodge demonstrates how sophisticated interiors can still feel rooted in the landscape. Earthy finishes, rich textures, and carefully selected furniture create spaces that are luxurious without losing their sense of place.

Michele Throssell’s interiors are rooted in their surroundings, combining organic textures and contemporary elegance to create spaces that feel luxurious.

Kim Williams Design

Kim Williams takes a slightly different approach, looking at the relationship between interior design and human behaviour. Her Cape Town studio works across residential, commercial and property development projects, combining aesthetics with an understanding of how people actually use a space.

The studio's work has received local and international recognition, including awards from the International Design Awards and Loeries.

Williams has also authored My Yellow Room, extending her influence beyond individual projects.

Kim Williams looks beyond aesthetics to consider how people actually experience and use a space.

Studio Ashby: Sophie Ashby

Although Studio Ashby is internationally based, Sophie Ashby's South African connection makes it an especially interesting addition to this list. Born to a South African mother and English father, Ashby grew up between Stellenbosch, Cape Town and the UK before studying art history and interior design in the US.

Her London studio is known for expressive, art-led interiors that combine colour, pattern, vintage pieces, and contemporary design.

In 2026, Studio Ashby opened a Cape Town office, strengthening its connection to the South African design world. It is an exciting development for a studio whose portfolio already spans luxury homes, apartments, hotels, and international projects.

Sophie Ashby’s art-led interiors are known for their confident use of colour, pattern, and vintage pieces.

The face of South African interior design

What these women share is not one particular aesthetic. Some favour quiet luxury and natural materials; others embrace colours, sculptural forms, patterns or a more architectural approach.

What connects them is a belief that good interior design should feel personal. It should respond to the architecture, the landscape and, most importantly, the people who live in it.