Peter MABEO

Peter Segopotso Mabeo was born in 1971 in Botswana. In 2006, following ten years of working on custom furniture projects in Botswana, he established a brand called Mabeo. The idea of the brand was borne out of an interest in going beyond, commercially influenced ideas of economic development and worldly success for its own sake, by applying the synergistic values of traditional craft and modernism as a basis for cultivating meaningful craft based relationships.

The idea of the brand was to broaden activity and to carefully find ways of engaging the world along with the skills of others within his community and not just as an individual. The brand is a platform that works within confines of design brand structure yet, with an internal sense of creating space for curiosity, experimentation, and broader views that transcend aestheticism, materiality, or design philosophy, emphasizing on relationship and interaction, with others and with nature. To articulate this vision, Mabeo reached out to international designers to engage, from varied view-points, in collaborative translations of techniques that exist in Botswana, using design as a translator between seemingly disparate cultures, to create objects for everyday use. Peter Mabeo plays different roles of instigator, mediator, editor and designer in this process, depending on the nature of different projects.

Mabeo has over the past 16 years been able to make progress by exhibiting works in highly regarded international design events and has been recipient of awards such as best craftsmanship at the International contemporary furniture fair in New York. The brand has also been featured in the most respected international publications; has completed international projects, including furniture for 5-star hotels in Stockholm, Milan and New York, and has made furniture for special residential, cultural and commercial projects, mostly designed by notable designers, around the world.

He has subsequently established a design studio – Mabeo Studio, and is increasingly taking commissions for special projects. An example of this is the appointment by Fendi, for the studio to design furniture, exhibition space and communication material for the Fendi exhibition at the 2021 edition of Design Miami.

Along with Beullah Serema, a like-minded designer from Botswana, the studio is establishing a broader collaborative framework through which architecture, craft, design and art can converge. This assemblage of varied fields provides greater scope for freedom in expressing the rich environment within which the studio operates.