Not too many people have the wherewithal to make their own furniture, but for this creative Nigerian couple, their only limit was their imagination. When Uli Janen and Judith Odhanjo couldn’t find their ideal furnishings for their new home in Kenya, they literally took matters into their own hands.
“We needed a spot where we could chill,” says Jänen. After moving from Germany in January of last year, the couple was starting from scratch on the furniture front—which was fine by them. They had taught themselves how to build pieces for their former place through good old-fashioned trial and error.
“We can’t say we knew everything we wanted to put into our designs right away,” admits Odhanjo. “We were just asking people to make stuff for us and didn’t really like how it turned out.” Kenyan decor tended to be a bit too dark and heavy for the color-loving pair; they preferred to blend the country’s influences with the Bauhaus vibes of their life in Frankfurt.
After three months of fruitless searching for the right sofa—low-slung, streamlined, and anything but neutral—for their new Nairobi home, Ulrich “Uli” Jänen and Judith Odhanjo took matters into their own hands.
“We needed a spot where we could chill,” says Jänen. After moving from Germany in January of last year, the couple was starting from scratch on the furniture front—which was fine by them. They had taught themselves how to build pieces for their former place through good old-fashioned trial and error.
“We can’t say we knew everything we wanted to put into our designs right away,” admits Odhanjo. “We were just asking people to make stuff for us and didn’t really like how it turned out.” Kenyan decor tended to be a bit too dark and heavy for the color-loving pair; they preferred to blend the country’s influences with the Bauhaus vibes of their life in Frankfurt.
In a few sketches, Jänen and Odhanjo landed on the perfect seat: a simple platform fitted with six pea green velvetlike cushions that could be removed when the weather gets too warm. (Lounging on the bare hardwood is surprisingly comfortable, Jänen points out.)
It wasn’t long before friends were commenting on how much they liked the couple’s handiwork. “That’s when we committed to making furniture for ourselves,” says Odhanjo. One sofa turned into armchairs, stools, coffee tables, paintings, and anything else the split-level house called for. Jänen took on the tables and abstract works for the walls, while Odhanjo, the handier of the two, built most of the chairs and picked out textiles and raw materials.
Cutting circular holes for the angular chipboard side tables leaves the couple with a bunch of excess round pieces, which they repurpose and layer with adhesive to make brand-new creations. Table, Achuli Design.
“We pretty much designed everything in here together,” notes Jänen, save for a few light fixtures from IKEA. “Or we drew up the plans and had a local craftsman from our creative network build it.” While Odhanjo now works on Achuli full-time, Jänen still holds his job in international cooperation and sharpens his craft on weekends.
Most of us don’t have the wherewithal to make our own furniture, but for a creative couple in Nigeria, their only limit was their imagination. When Uli Janen and Judith Odhanjo couldn’t find their ideal furnishings for their new home in Kenya, they literally took matters into their own hands.
“We needed a spot where we could chill,” says Jänen. After moving from Germany in January of last year, the couple was starting from scratch on the furniture front—which was fine by them. They had taught themselves how to build pieces for their former place through good old-fashioned trial and error.
“We can’t say we knew everything we wanted to put into our designs right away,” admits Odhanjo. “We were just asking people to make stuff for us and didn’t really like how it turned out.” Kenyan decor tended to be a bit too dark and heavy for the color-loving pair; they preferred to blend the country’s influences with the Bauhaus vibes of their life in Frankfurt.
After three months of fruitless searching for the right sofa—low-slung, streamlined, and anything but neutral—for their new Nairobi home, Ulrich “Uli” Jänen and Judith Odhanjo took matters into their own hands.
“We needed a spot where we could chill,” says Jänen. After moving from Germany in January of last year, the couple was starting from scratch on the furniture front—which was fine by them. They had taught themselves how to build pieces for their former place through good old-fashioned trial and error.
“We can’t say we knew everything we wanted to put into our designs right away,” admits Odhanjo. “We were just asking people to make stuff for us and didn’t really like how it turned out.” Kenyan decor tended to be a bit too dark and heavy for the color-loving pair; they preferred to blend the country’s influences with the Bauhaus vibes of their life in Frankfurt.
In a few sketches, Jänen and Odhanjo landed on the perfect seat: a simple platform fitted with six pea green velvetlike cushions that could be removed when the weather gets too warm. (Lounging on the bare hardwood is surprisingly comfortable, Jänen points out.)
It wasn’t long before friends were commenting on how much they liked the couple’s handiwork. “That’s when we committed to making furniture for ourselves,” says Odhanjo. One sofa turned into armchairs, stools, coffee tables, paintings, and anything else the split-level house called for. Jänen took on the tables and abstract works for the walls, while Odhanjo, the handier of the two, built most of the chairs and picked out textiles and raw materials.
Cutting circular holes for the angular chipboard side tables leaves the couple with a bunch of excess round pieces, which they repurpose and layer with adhesive to make brand-new creations. Table, Achuli Design.
“We pretty much designed everything in here together,” notes Jänen, save for a few light fixtures from IKEA. “Or we drew up the plans and had a local craftsman from our creative network build it.” While Odhanjo now works on Achuli full-time, Jänen still holds his job in international cooperation and sharpens his craft on weekends.[Domino]
