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Zengen Studio

Bold in colour, careful in material.

We design colourful, calm interiors with natural, reclaimed and low-VOC materials that are healthier to live with.

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Living room with terracotta plaster walls, a curved green velvet sofa, a travertine coffee table and wide oak floorboards, with oak trees beyond floor-to-ceiling windows
Pl. 01

House in Westlake Hills

Plaster walls, reclaimed oak floors, solid timber, linen and wool

Selected projects

A room is only as calm as what it’s made of.

Close view of clay plaster in deep ochre, with a sandy, hand-worked surface

Clay plaster

From the material library

Paint, glue, foam and finishes all leave something in the air. Most of it goes unnoticed until a room smells of new furniture for weeks. We would rather start with materials that have less to give off: plaster, solid timber, natural fibres and low-VOC finishes.

Those materials also age well. Oiled wood can be sanded back. Lime and clay can be patched. Linen softens with washing. A room built this way is easier to look after, and it keeps getting better instead of wearing out.

Where we can keep what is already there, we do. When something new is needed, we often commission it from artists and furniture makers in Austin.

How we choose materials

Every material we specify has to answer three questions: what is it made of, where does it come from, and what does it release into a room. If we can’t answer all three, we keep looking.

Explore the material library

Start with the room you already have.

Tell us about the space and what matters most to you. We’ll reply with a few questions and an idea of how we would approach it.

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