About
Design for the person.
Aesthete was founded on a simple conviction: that a home should be designed around the person living in it. We are a residential practice working along the South African coast, and we care more about how you live than about a signature house style.
The practice
Architect, designer and artist.
Aesthete is led by Kshir Bedhesi, an architect, designer and artist based in Johannesburg. As founding director, Kshir leads work that runs from private homes to residential developments of more than 80 units.
Competition work has earned an Editor’s Choice Award for Proximity Island, published among UNI.xyz’s best designs of 2020, and a place as a Burning Man Award finalist.
Each project starts from the place: its history, its people and its climate, rather than a house style. Engineers, contractors and artists are brought in from the start, so the ideas and the sustainability goals survive all the way to site.
How we work
Every project begins with a conversation.
01
Listen
We start with how you live: your routines, your site and what you want the house to do for you.
02
Explore
Concepts are tested against the site, the light, the budget and the way the spaces will be used.
03
Resolve
We develop the chosen concept into a buildable architectural design.
04
Document
Drawings and documentation are prepared in-house, ready for approval and construction.
Founded
[YEAR]
Studios
Jeffreys Bay · Knysna · Mossel Bay · Cape Town
Focus
Contemporary residential architecture