100% MODERN Swahili Style

“We wanted an African-style house in Africa”, says a Swiss couple living in Fumba. So they furnished a simple, off-plan modern townhouse entirely with historic Swahili furniture. The authentic interior turned the unassuming bungalow into an oasis of calm and style.

What does Swahili culture mean, is a question often asked by tourists and first-time visitors to Zanzibar. Our best friend AI – of course – has the perfect answer: Swahili culture refers to the “shared way of life of the Swahili people living along the East African coast, especially in Kenya and Tanzania and on islands such as Zanzibar and Lamu”. It is a coastal cosmopolitan culture shaped by centuries of interaction between Africa, the Arab world, Persia, India, and later Europe. It formed a language (Kiswahili), a common architecture, furniture, food and even clothing – forging a rich and sensual traditional lifestyle

In Zanzibar, the UNESCO protected old quarter called Stone Town – apart from all intrusion, dilapidation and modernisation – still stands as one of the largest urban expressions of Swahili life in East Africa. But even in the modern eco-development Fumba Town, on the outskirts of Zanzibar City, a Swiss couple demonstrated that Swahili style can also be shifted, survive and shine. “Come in”, says owner Karin Wiedenmayer as she opens the door to welcome us into her double-storey bungalow, one of the early house prototypes of the residential suburb

An antique wooden dining table with newly-made straightforward wooden chairs, plus a playful antique bench for visitors dominate the entrance room, accentuated by ultra-modern, brown metal table lamps. “This was a discovery from a local shop for electric appliances”, Karin says with a smile. The industrial 80’s lamps perfectly complement the historic look.          “We wanted to be near the sea”, the owner explains her choice of Fumba Town; the opportunity to buy off-plan was another advantage and sealed the deal. “Earlier, I had considered building on my own in Tanzania and was about to buy a plot near Dar es Salaam”, Karin recalls. But meanwhile, she and her husband have come to enjoy the communal facilities and infrastructure of Fumba very much. When introduced to Fumba Town by a French friend, they found the development “trustable right from the start as soon as we came to know that the founders grew up in Africa”, she adds. The developers of Fumba Town are Germans who moved to Tanzania as the children of missionaries.

Karin Wiedenmayer and her husband Christian Oesch look back on a long relationship with Tanzania, too. It started as a professional affiliation – for her as a pharmaceutical public health expert and for him as an architect in the 1990s. While Christian, simply called Chris by his Tanzanian friends, taught architecture at the university in Dar es Salaam, Karin worked as a health consultant and lecturer deployed by the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute of Basel. Their Tanzanian adventure grew into a love story – for the country and for each other.

Discovering Zanzibar was part of it. “We stayed at Mbweni Ruins and flew in with Coastal Air, everyone knew everybody”, Christian says, recalling the early days. Now he passes time drawing Zanzibar’s old treasures at one of their antique desks in Fumba. After buying the house in Fumba, the couple started furniture-hunting. “We wanted it antique and we wanted it Swahili style”, they agreed. “In our home in Fumba you truly feel you are in Zanzibar, and not in Rome or Paris”, Christian says.

In their quest to find original gems, the couple settled with one particular antique dealer in Stone Town, Abeid Curio. Each of their three bedrooms in Fumba has a large antique Swahili bed, with painted glass tiles and motifs like peacocks and flowers. The upper living room exudes calm and modesty with an unassuming historic sofa and two comfy wooden chairs – the historic furniture looking remarkably petite compared to the sofa landscapes of nowadays.

Some of the unique pieces date back to the 1880’s, Zanzibar’s golden era as a Sultanate; the living room chairs with newly upholstered cushions have a more “colonial” look. Sisal mats instead of carpets, antique rugs from Persia and uniform beige linen curtains in all rooms add to the calm atmosphere.

Karin’s favourite spot in the house is the large upper terrace with even a tiny bit of an Indian Ocean view and a splendid garden all around, full of  huge banana trees and bougainvillea. “We are both big fans of the permaculture practiced in Fumba Town”, Karin and Chris say.