Under his eponymous label, designer Thebe Magugu has expanded his creative practice into interior design with a suite at Cape Town’s legendary Mount Nelson, a Belmond hotel, realised in collaboration with StudioLandt. The suite, which aligns with the opening of Magugu House Cape Town — a cultural and retail space also at the hotel — was conceived as a space dedicated to African creativity and cultural exchange.
Its aesthetic is a merging of worlds: Mount Nelson’s 126-year-old British sensibility and Magugu’s contemporary African ethos, resulting in a design narrative that they’ve labelled “Afro-English” — “a kind of duality, where two histories meet and create something new”.
“To place an African story within a space that has historically represented something very British in its aesthetic ... for me, it wasn’t about disruption for its own sake but about presence, saying African luxury, in all its imagination and beauty, belongs here,” Magugu explains. “Not as an accessory, but as an authorial voice. Mount Nelson carries history in its walls. This suite is my way of adding a new chapter, one that reflects who is here now and who this place can speak to going forward.”
The two-storey suite speaks of African authorship through deep hues of “luxury stoep red” and olive green, with patterned textures accentuating the vibrant tones. Works by artists such as Zandile Tshabalala, Lulama Wolf and Mmangaliso Nzuza adorn the walls, while recurring circular forms, from the dining table and bedposts to lighting fixtures and custom cabinetry, reflect an African design philosophy symbolic of a connection to nature and community.
“I wanted everything in the suite to feel grounded — stone, timber, [and] texture that feels connected to the earth. Craft is how culture survives, and it’s how stories are passed down without needing to be spoken aloud.”
Pleating, an important motif for the brand, recurs in the textiles and sculptural lighting. “The pleating, the carving, [and] the handmade details help the space feel grounded because they carry the trace of a human hand. And that trace is, to me, the most luxurious thing of all.”
Certain designs have a deeper personal resonance — notably, the dining pendant inspired by the mokorotlo, a traditional Basotho straw hat. “It’s immediately Basotho, immediately home, but placed within this grand setting,” he says.
The panoramic wallpaper is another favourite. “It reimagines landscape and place through a very classical interior language, but the world it depicts is entirely ours,” Magugu says.
The rug, with its printed impression of rhebok tracks moving through the room, “is about presence, about the idea that something has passed through, that memory leaves footprints”.
Magugu’s brand draws on ancestral memory, both personal and collective. Here, his grandmother serves as a muse, while the broader design language pays homage to his Sotho heritage. “I think luxury without intimacy is empty,” he reflects. “My grandmother’s presence, and the Basotho references, are not decorative gestures but anchors that remind me that beauty comes from lineage and from my people. It’s that emotional anchor that makes the space feel so luxurious.”
The journey began with the opportunity to design the suite, followed serendipitously by securing an adjacent space for Magugu House. Over time, the projects organically grew alongside one another, each with a unique intent: Magugu House as a public cultural home and the suite as a private retreat, almost like stepping into the designer’s mind.
Magugu House’s inaugural exhibition, titled “By Our Hands” and curated in collaboration with art specialist Julia Buchanan, features the work of celebrated artists Zanele Muholi and Zizipho Poswa, whom Magugu views as co-authors in a universe where their voices remain distinct.
The suite and Magugu House are spaces that reflect Magugu’s intent to build worlds beyond garments — in spaces where his work can be experienced fully as he designs a lasting legacy.
From the March issue of Wanted, 2026
