Design Map · Eindhoven
Dynasty Complex
Graduation project by Ronny Kinuthia at Design Academy Eindhoven, 2026. Shown during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven on Design Map, location F5.
Beads and steel meet in the design of a chair. Two materials, two distant economies. Ronny Kinuthia traces beads back to pre-colonial East Africa. Here, they marked status and belonging, becoming trade currency. Today they remain a livelihood for Maasai communities. Steel, in turn, tells a story about the material foundation of Sweden's economic rise and its national perception. Seen from the perspective of migration, ‘Dynasty Complex’ brings both histories into one object. The steel frame is shaped in Europe by the designer through controlled metal work. In contrast, the beadwork is made in Nairobi in collaboration with local fundi, skilled craftspeople. It carries an element of cooperative spontaneity which the designer can’t fully direct. That negotiation between discipline and intuition mirrors a wider one between globalisation and protectionism. Rather than trying to homogenise these two craft wisdoms, the chair makes them work together.