Every project is a dialogue between context and imagination, shaped through materials chosen for authenticity and longevity, creating spaces that feel inevitable
ABOUT IMỌSÉ STUDIO
IMỌSÉ Studio is a design practice focused on creating spaces that feel calm, enduring, and deeply connected to context.
The studio works across residential, hospitality, cultural, and research-based projects, approaching each commission through careful observation of site, climate, material, and human experience. Rather than imposing a fixed aesthetic, the work seeks to uncover a design language that emerges naturally from place and purpose.
IMỌSÉ means "state of beauty" in Edo, reflecting the studio's belief that good design should restore, inspire, and enrich everyday life.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
We believe design begins with listening.
Every project is shaped through an understanding of how people live, move, gather, and experience space throughout the day. Light, proportion, material, landscape, and atmosphere are treated as fundamental design tools rather than decorative additions.
The studio values restraint over excess, longevity over trend, and clarity over spectacle. Whether designing a home, an urban intervention, or a speculative research project, the goal remains the same: to create spaces that feel inevitable, grounded, and human.
Vision & Context
Every project begins with listening. We seek to understand how you live, what you value, and how space should feel. Through conversation, observation, and site analysis, we uncover the unique conditions that shape the project: light, landscape, ritual, movement, and atmosphere.
Light as Material
Light is treated as a building material. We study how it moves across space throughout the day and across seasons, using it to shape atmosphere, reveal texture, and define spatial experience. Natural light informs proportion, materiality, and the emotional quality of each environment.
Site as Inspiration
Every site contains the beginnings of the project. We study orientation, topography, climate, views, and surrounding context to guide design decisions that feel grounded rather than imposed. The result is work that feels connected to its environment and inevitable in its placement.
HOW WE WORK
Collaborative Design
Design emerges through dialogue. We work closely with clients through an iterative process of sketches, models, drawings, and conversation, allowing the design to evolve thoughtfully over time. This collaborative approach ensures spaces feel deeply aligned with how they will be lived in.
Integrated Solutions
We approach each project holistically, balancing spatial clarity, material authenticity, environmental performance, and construction feasibility. Buildings, interiors, landscape, and atmosphere are considered together to create cohesive and enduring spaces.
From Concept to Reality
Our involvement extends from early concept design through construction and completion. We work closely with consultants, fabricators, and builders to ensure the integrity of the design is maintained throughout the process, translating ideas into carefully realised spaces.
services
01
DESIGN
We design buildings that respond to context, climate, and the rhythms of everyday life. Each project is approached holistically, balancing spatial clarity, material integrity, and long-term functionality to create environments that feel calm, enduring, and deeply considered.
Site analysis, Program Development, Conceptual design, Feasibility studies, Schematic design, Design development, Construction documentation, Municipal approvals and permitting, Construction Administration
02
Interiors
Our interiors extend the studio's design language inward, shaping spaces through light, proportion, texture, and atmosphere. We create environments that feel refined yet lived-in, where materials and detailing support comfort, clarity, and daily rituals.
Interior design, Space planning, Custom millwork and furniture design, Material specification, Lighting Design, Permitting as needed
03
residential & adu
We specialise in accessory dwelling units and residential additions across California, navigating complex permitting landscapes to deliver well-designed secondary dwellings that extend the value and life of the primary residence.
Garage conversions, New ADU construction, Permit documentation, Residential additions, Landscape integration for Indoor-outdoor living strategies
04
Outdoor Design
Outdoor space is living space. We design exterior environments that strengthen the relationship between buildings, landscape, and daily life, maximising usable area while creating meaningful connections between interior and exterior spaces. Each landscape is conceived as a place for gathering, retreat, and connection to nature.
Landscape planning, Courtyards and terraces, Hardscape design (patios, walkways, retaining walls), Outdoor living spaces (kitchens, fire features, dining areas), Pool and spa design
05
design strategy
Our strategic and early-stage design work helps shape strong foundations for future projects. Through research, analysis, and visual exploration, we clarify opportunities, test possibilities, and guide informed decision-making before construction begins.
Feasibility studies, Site potential assessment, Program development, Concept studies, Spatial and massing strategies, Early cost frameworks, Stakeholder visualization and communication, Regulatory pathway analysis
06
Furniture Design
We design furniture as buildings at human scale. Each piece is conceived to inhabit specific space, respond to particular use, and embody material honesty.
Custom furniture design, Prototype development, Material exploration and selection, Fabrication coordination, Limited production pieces
founder/principal
ose etomi
Ose Etomi is a Nigerian designer and founder of IMỌSÉ Studio, a multidisciplinary practice working across design, interiors, urban research, and spatial storytelling. Her work explores the relationship between atmosphere, material, culture, and the ways space shapes human experience across domestic, civic, and speculative environments.
Working between Los Angeles and Lagos, Etomi's practice is grounded in an understanding of climate, context, and the emotional qualities of space. Her approach combines spatial restraint with careful attention to light, proportion, texture, and material continuity, producing environments that feel calm, enduring, and deeply connected to place.
Over the course of her career, she has contributed to projects across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Nigeria, including residential developments, civic buildings, educational facilities, and large-scale mixed-use urban projects. Her experience spans both intimate domestic interventions and complex metropolitan work, informing a design approach that moves fluidly between buildings, landscape, interiors, and urban systems.
Alongside built work, Etomi maintains an ongoing interest in cultural research and speculative spatial practice. Her work often investigates African urbanism, identity, memory, migration, and the future of spatial production within rapidly changing cities. In 2018, she participated in Ports + Portals, a Venice exhibition developed alongside the US Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, exploring citizenship, selfhood, and the Black body through spatial installation.
IMỌSÉ Studio was founded as a platform for thoughtful, context-driven design that prioritises human experience over spectacle. The studio approaches each project as a dialogue between site, client, material, and atmosphere, seeking design solutions that are both rigorous and deeply personal.
Etomi holds professional and academic training in architecture and urban design, with studies spanning design, development, and business for design. Her interdisciplinary background continues to shape the studio's interest in projects that bridge design, research, culture, and long-term urban thinking.
Through IMỌSÉ, she continues to develop work that explores how thoughtful design can create spaces of clarity, belonging, and quiet transformation.
qualifications
Advanced Diploma in Professional Practice in Architecture (RIBA)
Royal Institute of British Architects
2019–2021
Master of Architecture
Cornell University
2015–2018
BA (Hons) Architecture
University of Manchester
2008–2011
MA Architectural Visualization (Distinction)
University of Kent
2013–2014
Select writing
Archinect
Wait + Watch: Lookout Tower Learning Centre
THE RAVEN & THE WRITING DESK
The RedHook Library
RESHAPING SPACE THROUGH MODELS
THE BIOME SAFARI
Rethinking Colonial Africa
Drawing the Invisible
The Hive Pavilion Moves to Kew Gardens
Archilovers
The Biome Safari
Drawing the Invisible
Wait + Watch: Lookout Tower Learning Centre
World Architecture
The RedHook Library
Drawing the Invisible
Bottled People
Architect Magazine
Urban Savannah
Wait + Watch: Lookout Tower Learning Centre
The RedHook Library
awards
Architecture Drawing Prize
2021 Shortlisted Finalist, Digital Category
RAMSA Architecture Travel Fellowship
2018 Finalist
Venice Biennale
2018 Selected for US Pavilion, Ports + Portals
Earl R. Flansburgh Merit Award
2016 Grant Recipient
Cornell AAP Travel Fund
2018 Research Grant, Indigenous Nigerian Architecture