About

Design was never a career I consciously chose; it was simply the thing I could not stop doing.

I designed my first restaurant at nineteen, while still a student at Greenside Design Centre. That project went on to receive a national style award, and the restaurant that followed was named International Restaurant of the Year in 2022, with its interior shortlisted among the top four globally at the International Hotel & Property Awards in Capri. By the time I graduated, I was already running the studio I had once only imagined building.

Today, at twenty-six, I remain one of the youngest people in many of the rooms I enter. I have always tried to answer any doubt surrounding my age in the only way I know how: quietly, through the work, one considered project at a time. I began at nineteen, and I hope to still be learning at ninety.

At the heart of my work is the belief that beauty is not decoration. Beauty is what makes a person feel welcomed, held and at home. It is the unspoken brief beneath every brief I have ever accepted.

I believe that any space has the ability to transport us. The right room can carry someone somewhere else entirely—to a Mediterranean summer, a distant landscape or a memory they did not know they had—while still allowing them to feel completely at ease. That balance is what I pursue in every project: escapism without intimidation. Design should move people, but it should never impose itself upon them.

My Greek heritage has given me much of my creative vocabulary: olive trees, natural linen, stone, light, proportion and the ritual of gathering. South Africa has given me the place in which to speak it. My heritage appears in my work not as nostalgia, but as a continuing source of inspiration—through spaces and objects that carry a sense of history, belonging and, inevitably, a piece of me.

My practice brings together local craftsmanship and international ideas. Since establishing Atelier Giorgio, I have travelled regularly to Salone del Mobile in Milan and Maison&Objet in Paris. I do not travel simply to follow trends, but to reinvest in my education, broaden my references and return home inspired. Those ideas are then interpreted through South African materials, makers and hands. The result, I hope, is work that feels globally fluent while remaining unmistakably connected to its place.

Refinement, to me, is not a single grand gesture. It is the sum of hundreds of carefully considered decisions. I revisit an idea until it feels resolved and inevitable, because “good enough” has rarely felt like enough.

I am equally drawn to materials that are honest and capable of ageing gracefully: raw travertine, natural marble, solid oak, linen and hand-thrown clay. Trends expire, but authentic materials tell longer stories. I would rather create something a client’s grandchildren may one day run their hands across than something designed only for the present moment.

Every space should also tell a story. Before drawing a line, I ask what the place wants to say about its site, its people and its purpose. I then try to express that story through texture, colour, light and proportion rather than through words. Styles date; stories endure. The rooms that remain with us are usually the ones that were about something.

Design, when done well, is ultimately an act of generosity. A well-made room looks after people. It seats them comfortably, lights them kindly and quietly tells them that they belong. It should not merely look the part; it should feel as though it was made with the people who will inhabit it genuinely in mind. If someone leaves one of my projects feeling a little more at home in the world than when they arrived, then the design has done its work.

Atelier Giorgio remains a deeply personal practice. I lead every project from its earliest concept through to completion, developing the narrative, spatial planning, technical drawings, material palettes, bespoke details, furniture, lighting and final styling. Each project is carried from the first sketch through to the final installation with the same level of authorship, curiosity and care.

I was named one of SCAPE’s Faces of the Future in 2022, included in The SCAPE 100 in 2026, featured in the SCAPE Gold Key: Hospitality Edition in 2026, and shortlisted for Emerging Firm of the Year at the 2025 Awards of Excellence. Each recognition has meant a great deal to a young studio continuing to establish its voice.

Above all, I am working to build a body of work that means something: spaces that are generous, warm and timeless; places that people remember. I want to spend my career proving that even the smallest details can change the way someone experiences the world.

I am seven years into that journey, and I feel as though I am only beginning.

Design should move people, never impose on them.