Anna Trzebinski is a renowned fashion designer and a self-taught interior designer.
Over the years, the designer has been transforming spaces, including her homes, into artistic exquisite hotels.
Anna has worked on three projects so far, located in Laikipia, Nairobi and Lamu Island.
Here is her stories as told by WoK.
Background
Anna holds an undergraduate and Master’s degrees in politics, international relations and law from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.
She also attended the London School of Economics for her postgraduate studies.
The designer worked at the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) between 1989 to 1992 under the leadership of the late Dr Richard Leakey.
She worked on her first project some 18 years ago.
Ann is the brains behind the mind-blowing interior designs at Lemarti’s Camp, a safari hideaway in northern Laikipia.
The camp boasts five stylish safari tents with outside en-suite bathrooms that are open to the sky with a separate tree shower.
Anna ran the camp with her Maasai-Samburu ex-husband, Loyaban Lemarti.
A report on Business Daily showed that her second project was Eden Hotel in Karen, Nairobi, designed for discerning travellers and creative intellectuals.
The establishment was initially her home having built it with her late husband, Tonio Trzebinski, in the early 1990s.
The establishment served as a boutique hotel, along with her own studio and a separate concept shop of local brands.
“It’s everything you’d expect from a larger-than-life fashion designer, a colourful pastiche of antiques and artwork,” a hotel review website stated.
She transform her home into a small bed and breakfast lodge in 2015 when she relocated to the US.
Eden Hotel boasts eight rustic-chic designed rooms spread across the main house and Tonio’s former studio.
The main house has the master bedroom as well as rooms named after Anna’s children with living areas filled with wood-carved beds.
The decor is paintings by Tonio, sculptures by Anna’s son, and ceramics by her daughter while bathrooms are lined with seashells, and mirrors are framed by colorful blown-glass installations.
“At this hotel, you will understand who we were and what was important to us. It was a pretty vulnerable show-and-tell of one family,” Anna said.
Anna’s third project is in Lamu County, a place where local and international tourists can retreat and enjoy the region’s culture.
As a fashion designer, Anna deals with high-end clothing and jewellery.
She started decorating handbags and leather coats in 1993 when she was pregnant with her daughter, Luna.
“I’m not a designer by profession or education and didn’t know how to make patterns. But I always know how I like things to look; I find my way to it, and that’s how I learned,” Anna said.
Over the years, her handmade attire has been sold at Donna Karan in the US, Paul Smith in Britain, and Hemingways Hotel in Nairobi.
