Growing up in a small farming town in Zimbabwe, I was surrounded by nature, rocks with orange moss, masasa trees bursting into rust and gold each spring, dusty roads and the waterfalls and forests of the Nyanga mountains. I spent my childhood in the garden making dolls out of reeds and leaves. For birthdays, my dad gave me watercolours and calligraphy pens. Oh how I loved his neat square ink handwriting on his architectural drawings. My favourite part of watching TV was the adverts and my bedroom walls were covered in magazine clippings. When people asked what I wanted to do when I grew up, my go-to answer was: “Something with art.”

Fast forward 30 years and I’ve worked as a graphic designer for over two decades, besides a five-year detour in China, teaching English. I trained formally at DUT and returned in 2019 to research a Master’s in Visual Communication. A heartfelt shout-out to my supervisors, Dr Philippa Kethro and Chantelle Warburton, for walking that road with me.

Over the past five years, I’ve been designing and marketing for a group of pet companies, where I’ve held together several brands with a strong presence in the veterinary industry. From print (hmmm, that smell of freshly delivered brochures)to websites and even a chance to learn some UI/UX design for an app.

The Owl Design was born from a desire to reach deeper into my creative potential, to serve brands with big soul and to create work with purpose. In a world that is loud and pushy, with devices shouting at us every waking moment, I want to use my gift of nuance and attention to detail, to craft visual languages that help businesses and organisations tell their stories with clarity and honesty.