Senior interior designer and director at Zing Design, Thuli Mahlangu believes that our creativity, physical and mental health is affected by the spaces we occupy.
“Interior design, for me, is the environments we occupy. We occupy interior spaces a lot and what do those spaces do to shape us? Whether it be a business, restaurant, hotel or hospital, when you home out of that space you’re much better, you’re not necessarily the same. How do we inspire ourselves in those spaces to also grow as individuals, and meet each other grown, healthy and well-minded?”
Using the design of and buildings in townships as an example of how our spaces can affect us negatively, Mahlangu says that interior designers and architectures should be cognisant of such effects when building or designing spaces. She notes that there has been an evolution to old architecture where people are changing four-room houses into businesses.
“My business is really attached to the long-term vision of how we become better as a human race but more than anything Zing Design is geared at ensuring that spaces have life, whatever that format might be.”
Interior spaces shape us says Mahlangu
Senior interior designer and director at Zing Design, Thuli Mahlangu believes that our creativity, physical and mental health is affected by the spaces we occupy.
“Interior design, for me, is the environments we occupy. We occupy interior spaces a lot and what do those spaces do to shape us? Whether it be a business, restaurant, hotel or hospital, when you home out of that space you’re much better, you’re not necessarily the same. How do we inspire ourselves in those spaces to also grow as individuals, and meet each other grown, healthy and well-minded?”
Using the design of and buildings in townships as an example of how our spaces can affect us negatively, Mahlangu says that interior designers and architectures should be cognisant of such effects when building or designing spaces. She notes that there has been an evolution to old architecture where people are changing four-room houses into businesses.
“My business is really attached to the long-term vision of how we become better as a human race but more than anything Zing Design is geared at ensuring that spaces have life, whatever that format might be.”
Soweto-born Mahlangu says that studying design formalised her creativity and that interior design exposed her to architecture.
“You’ve get to understand how buildings work, you can’t be an interior designer and not understand how buildings work and how it's built. What are the functions of a building? What are the structural functions of a building? Is it strong enough to hold a certain weight?”
Mahlangu says she offers her clients the opportunity to thrive. One of her offerings is light sanitisation through a partnership with Far UVC Lighting, a company that designs and manufactures lights that kill viruses.
“What we do is that we give you a holistic solution as a business owner or homeowner... it’s also important for us to understand who you are so that when I take your brief I am able to incorporate who you are in the design.”
Mahlangu has been in the design industry for 18 years and her business has been operational for seven of those years.